I, Claudius

Absolutely glorious series. All the actors in this series are in or have been in American films but they have always been underrated and are some of the best actors alive. There are more dames and knights than you can believe. Derek Jacobi is breathtaking in his performance. Sian Phillips is subtly evil. John Hurt as Caligula shines with madness. The sets are unbelievable considering the small budget they had. The most shocking thing is that everything in one sense or another is true. These people really did die these ways. It will take you completely out of your everyday life and deposit you in the world of the Romans.

The best miniseries ever made! Smart and sexy, with characters that live and breathe. Just some of the most marvelous characters include Brian Blessed as the benevolent Augustus, George Baker as the wounded Tiberius, and Siân Phillips as Livia. Includes one of John Hurt's finest performances, and I'd go into Derek Jacobi as Claudius, but they say I have to keep it below 1,000 words. The Canadian channel Bravo runs it occasionally, or try renting it from Blockbuster, but I recommend shelling out for the entire collection on video!

Based on Robert Graves' famous novel, I, CLAUDIUS is the ultimate soap opera, vicious, cruel, manipulative--and this famous English miniseries grabs the attention and holds fast throughout the entire length of its complex tale of ancient intrigue.

The great strengths of I, CLAUDIUS are in the driving pace, sharp wit, and ferocity of Jack Pulman's script and the host of brilliant performers who play it out. Chief among these are Sian Phillips as the calculating, murderous, and unspeakably cold Livia, wife of Augustus; although Derek Jacobi gives a justly famous performance in the title role, it is Phillips who dominates and drives the story with this, the most brilliant performance of her career. But this is not to disparage the overall cast, which is remarkably fine and includes such noted artists as Brian Blessed, John Hurt, Patricia Quinn, Patrick Stewart, and a host of others.

Like the serpent that appears in the open credits, the story twists and winds--and covers several generations of the ruling family as Rome slips from the republic to royal rule, largely due to the manipulations of Livia, who has few if any scruples in her determination to rule first through her husband and then through her son. Although the look of the film is somewhat dated, it in no way impairs the power of the piece, and I, CLAUDIUS remains one of the handful of miniseries that actually improves upon repeated viewings. Strongly, strongly recommended.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

One of the best British imports on Masterpiece Theater in the USA, the series was a real bicentennial gift from the United Kingdom.

Over a dozen chapters, the series held the interest throughout, there's not a moment that it flagged. So many wonderful performances by the players. Derek Jacobi got his career role in this series as the club footed stuttering Claudius who survives by just making sure everyone thinks him a fool and not worth bothering about. In the meantime he secretly records his family's inner history.

The really evil one here is Livia played by Sian Phillips. I'm pretty sure that such prime time bitch goddesses as Joan Collins on Dynasty and Jane Wyman in Falcon Crest modeled their characters on Livia because these women were Girl Scouts compared to Livia. Livia was the wife of Augustus Caesar played by Brian Blessed and Phillips also got a career role.

I'd be hard pressed to decide who was the best Caligula ever. John Hurt in this series is up against some pretty stiff competition in Malcolm McDowell in the title role of the film Caligula or Jay Robinson in The Robe and Demetrius And The Gladiators. Insanity gallops in the Caesar family as in The Brewsters and in the case of Caligula it breaks the three minute mile.

George Baker is very good as the pleasure seeking Tiberius whose succession to the throne Sian Phillips is working overtime to achieve. Patrick Stewart with a full head of hair plays the opportunistic Sejanus who reaches for power, taking advantage of the increasing hedonistic tendencies of Tiberius in his later years. Sejanus would have been his career role had he not become Jean-Luc Picard.

Margaret Tyzack who was Queen Anne in The First Churchills gets another fine role as Antonina, mother of Claudius. Her other son Germanicus falls victim to Caesar court politics and her daughter takes up with Sejanus. Her children disappoint her throughout and she like the others fail to see that Claudius is not the fool he appears to be.

Probably Sheila White's Messalina is far closer to the truth than Susan Hayward's worldly woman in Demetrius and the Gladiators. White plays her like the Catherine Howard of her day, like the legendary nymphomaniac wife of Henry VIII who was one of the two who Henry executed. You've got to love that coitus contest between Messalina and the head of the guild of prostitutes. Guess who wins.

Robert Graves lived long enough to see his historical fictionalization come to life and I'm sure he must have approved. Graves did some considerable research into ancient texts for I, Claudius. His interpretation is as valid as any others we'll find of those wild and crazy ancient days of the Caesars.

What can one say that has not already been said about this true masterwork of television? Well, I, Claudius has been a part of my life since I was very young, when me and my mum used to sit and watch, totally rapt in the labyrinthine shenanighans of this most horrid little story...although, at 12 hours long, the story is hardly tiny, but horrid it most certainly is. Every episode is filled with intrigue, murder, violence, nudity, back-stabbing, plotting, incest, insanity and everything else one usually connects with this barbaric, nasty little page of history. The Roman Empire was probably the most corrupt moment of history and Robert Graves' epic novels, here turned into stunning drama by Jack Pulman's brilliant script, blows every other BBC drama clean out of the water. And as for the acting...Brian Blessed is a tornado as the weak-willed Emperor Augustus, while John Hurt gives one of his finest performances as the insane, decadent Caligula. But the true star of this fabulous course of debauchery is Sian Phillips' scheming, evil bitch of Rome, Livia. In one of the finest scenes in the drama, she confronts Claudius and reveals the treachery which has singlehandedly rid herself of all those who have stood in her way, including her own husband. It is a powerhouse performance, and her departure from the second part of the show is sorely missed, but this is compensated for when Hurt takes centre-stage when his unhinged Caligula (nice boy!) plunges Rome into lower depths of depravity and madness. Derek Jacobi, as the foolish, but wise Claudius gives us just enough of his presence to make us aware he is watching quietly while the murders occur, but his presence pervades the entire piece due to his diction, his amazingly baritone voice and because he narrates, even when his birth has not actually occured yet. All in all, a stunning, marvellous piece of entertainment which will never be beaten. I happen to own the entire series on video, and it gets an airing at least once a year...with each new watch revealing subtleties i missed last time. I implore anyone who lives Ancient Rome, good drama or just likes a long wallow in unrepentant horror and blood to watch this drama. You will not be disappointed. Brilliant!!