Britannia

Just the right mixture of historical fiction, action adventure, and irreverent dark humor. Don't worry about historical accuracy. Just sit back and enjoy a creative and unique show!

If you want to see a documentary when you watch a television series, then by all means listen to the people who complain about the lack of historical accuracy.

If you on the other hand just want to have a good time with a fictional series based loosely on history, then by all means watch it! It is weird and violent, with many interesting characters and some good ol' action too.

I'll admit I love watching anything to do with Ancient Rome. As a teenager, I studied Lingua Latina and translated, for example, the writings of Julius Caesar and all the exploits throughout his career.

The Roman Army around 43AD was the most dangerous and skilled in the World; and Ancient Rome ruled most of what was the known World, they may lose a battle here and there, but rarely lost a war.

After every battle a Legions Commander would write about both his and the enemies tactics, and send a dispatch to the Sergeant Major Of The Army, back in Rome - who would copy same, and send it to every other Roman Legion General. This way every Commander had full knowledge of the enemy. And it worked.

Britannia shows just how ruthless the Roman Army and their Generals were. Kind of like, take no prisoners. Even the children were killed. Why? Because the Generals learned that when the kids grew up, they would want revenge.

There's a lot of action in Britannia and the Roman General in Britain is especially cruel. And smart.

For anyone who likes this time period, don't dwell too much on any perceived 'historical inaccuracies', just sit back and enjoy the ride. The opening music by Donnavan sets the mood. In part to me Britannia was both great and slightly crazy. Well worth your time.

There's plenty of people on here that are taking the series and its historical accuracy too seriously, even to the point that someone seems to figure themselves as more well informed than the Roman historian Mary beard (looking at you Allen). I'm currently undergoing my Masters in Roman History, and just a little newsflash mate, ancient Britain was famous for its warrior queens (esp. Cartimandua and Boudicca) which are mentioned in Tacitus - do your homework and stop thinking you're an expert because you've read Herodotus lol. Also Rome pooled auxiliaries from all over the empire including its North African provinces, and due to the migratory nature of the peoples from Sub-Saharan Africa, and the plethora of reports about peoples below the desert its not unlikely that these people wanted to live in the prosperous North African provinces of the Roman Empire and took up military service with its lucrative benefits. Either way, its not the point; the show captures the perceived mysticism and magical Roman conceptions of Britain well. It was seen by Roman and Greek writers as the land at the end of the world where magic and human sacrifice among other abominations occured. Yes the show deviates away from certain historical events, but the invasion of Claudius was not all that well documented, and it still captures the internal strife and rivalry well, as well as the mysterious prominence of the druids in celtic culture. It's quite sad really how many people are trying to be historians while watching a sky drama: the cast is good, some of the characters are endearing, and for the shows early days, it looks promising. Stop trying to step into academic fields that you're clearly not all that well acquainted and just enjoy the drama. Jheeeeezus.

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised when I started watching this TV series and I liked it from the very beginning.

And then, what has been happening lately with TV series has started to happen here as well, and that is that the production, after the initial success, thinks how it found a milking cow and then instead of finishing the series in a normal and meaningful way, procrastination and dilution starts, in order to film as many seasons as possible and earn as much money as possible.

This, of course, resulted in the fact that each following season is weaker than the previous one, and that the action stretches unnecessarily indefinitely, and in essence, nothing important happens in the complete third season.

This is a classic example of how to ruin a good and interesting idea, as happened with the TV series Money Heist, for example.

So my rating of this TV series dropped from a strong 9 to a modest 7.