Germanicus is dead. His widow, Agrippina (Fiona Walker) is convinced that Piso (Stratford Johns) and his wife Plancina (Irene Hamilton) poisoned him ….

So David Robb breathes his last as Germanicus. He has a few brief scenes here – although none are very taxing (in the first he’s already dead, then later there are a few quick flashbacks showing the ailing Germanicus). The fact we never see any interaction between Germanicus and Piso (the recently deposed governor of Syria) means that, like the Senate who are called upon to debate Piso and Plancina’s guilt or innocence, we don’t know what happened for certain (at least not for a while).

Both Stratford Johns and Irene Hamilton add considerable value to this episode. This would be Hamilton’s penultimate television credit whilst Johns still had several decades of work in front of him. As you’d expect, Johns is compelling as the initially affable Piso – convinced that his friendship with Tiberius will be sufficient to get him out of trouble. The more far-seeing Plancina can clearly see that their guilt or innocence doesn’t really matter – the mob (angry at Germanicus’ death) want justice, so it looks like Piso and Plancina will have to be sacrificed.

Agrippina details the way her husband met his end – there’s some lurid (and slightly ludicrous) visual detail to aid the viewer in this. Although Claudius doesn’t have a great deal to do today, he’s still quite key. Meeting with the likes of Agrippina, Castor, Antonia and Herod he makes the suggestion (accepted by Castor) that the trial should take place in the Senate (a move that would favour them). It’s plain that in their company he no longer feels the need to play the fool.

Tiberius and Livia are also somewhat sidelined. As of yet, there’s no great sense about how Tiberius’ reign as Emperor is going (apart from the fact that he peevishly wonders why the public loved Germanicus more than they love him).

Now that Livia has poisoned her way through a vast swathe of the Imperial family, she’s become somewhat surplus to requirements. If Livia assumed that Tiberius would allow her to jointly rule (as Augustus did) then she’s been sorely disappointed. “What a spineless, miserable, mean-spirited creature you are!” she opines in his direction towards the end of the episode. Since he’s not listening to her, who does he take counsel from? It’s Sejanus who’s operating as the power behind the throne (although again, he’s another whose role in the episode is quite brief).

The teeny Caligula (Robert Craig-Morgan) debuts. When even Livia describes him as a “monster” you know he must be bad ….

Indulged by his mother, Agrippina, Caligula is allowed to run riot. Claudius attempts to talk some sense into him (whereas Claudius’ mother Antonia favours locking him in the cellar and giving him a good whipping) but as we’ll see over the next few episodes, his words of caution didn’t really do much good. Even at this young age, Caligula is mad, bad and dangerous to know.

Some Justice was the television debut of Robert Morgan (later Robert Craig-Morgan) who will always be best remembered for playing the satchel-clutching Justin Bennett in the early years of Grange Hill.

Livia’s revulsion occurred after the poisoner Martina (Patsy Byrne) revealed to her the active part that Caligula played in his father’s death. The scene between Livia and Martina serves a dual purpose. On the one hand it’s blackly amusing to see two old hands calmly discussing poisons they have known, but the scene mainly exists so that Martina can info dump some major revelations about the way Germanicus died.

The episode ends – as it began – with the aged Claudius on the Imperial toilet. Which isn’t something you see every day. Some Justice almost feels like a stand-alone story, thanks to the prominence of Stratford Johns and several lengthy court-room scenes. But as he’s an actor I’ve always enjoyed watching this is no hardship for me.