Editing Up Pompeii! (section)

==Films and sequels==
The show inspired three films. The first was also called ''[[Up Pompeii (film)|Up Pompeii]]'' (1971) and added such characters as Bilius, Voluptua, Scrubba and Villanus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b98d038|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180416031454/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b98d038|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 April 2018|title=Up Pompeii (1971)|website=BFI}}</ref> It ended with the eruption of [[Mount Vesuvius]], which anachronistically (for AD79) included [[Nero]] (who added, "[[Great Fire of Rome|Wait till you see what I've up for Rome!]]"), and had a brief epilogue in which Howerd played a modern-day museum guide showing the petrified remains of the Pompeiian characters. It was produced by [[Ned Sherrin]] and retained only Frankie Howerd from the cast of the original series (Ludicrus, for example, was played by [[Michael Hordern]] in the film adaptation, Erotica by [[Madeline Smith]] and Nausius by [[Royce Mills]]). However, [[Aubrey Woods]] appeared in the TV series and the film, playing different roles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ff84bd7|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003211148/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ff84bd7|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 October 2019|title=Aubrey Woods|website=BFI}}</ref>

The two sequels were ''[[Up the Chastity Belt]]'' (1971) and ''[[Up the Front]]'' (1972) which  transported Howerd's servile, cowardly character to [[Middle Ages|Medieval]] times (as Lurkalot) and [[World War I]] (as Private Lurk).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f722f91|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414094524/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f722f91|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 April 2018|title=Frankie Howerd|website=BFI}}</ref> A few years later, the BBC made one final special called ''Further up Pompeii!'' (with exclamation mark) in 1975.

The format of ''Up Pompeii'' inspired two later TV series, ''[[Whoops Baghdad]]'' (1973) and ''[[Then Churchill Said to Me]]'' (1982), both starring Howerd. The later series was shelved due to the outbreak of the [[Falklands War]] and – thought politically insensitive – the series was aired after Howerd's death in 1993.

A [[pilot episode]] for a US version of ''Up Pompeii'' for [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], initially called ''The Pompeii Way'' but later renamed ''Up the toga'', still starring Frankie Howerd and co-starring [[Foster Brooks]], was recorded in 1971, but it did not proceed to a full series and was never shown.<ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10976254/ ''The Pompeii Way'' on the IMDb {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=March 2022}}</ref> Publicity shots on Getty Images show that it involved the "Olympia Theatre Company", suggesting it may have been based on episode 5 of series 1 ("The actors"). The existence of this pilot was undocumented for a long time, until the publicity photographs were noticed online. For a long time, it was unclear if the program still existed, until a [[16mm film]] copy was sold on eBay in late 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266019759870|title=Up the toga|website=ebay}}</ref>

The 1991 special ''Further up Pompeii'' (without exclamation mark) was made (by ITV/LWT) twenty years after the series had ended and by different writers. Lurcio is now a freedman with slaves of his own, but still has more than enough problems in his life. It could have served as a [[pilot episode]] for a revival of the series, but Howerd's death prevented that.