"Rome" - the best historical TV drama ever?

Timcito · October 2023

I've nearly finished watching the whole thing yet again on DVD and have been enthralled yet again by it. I still think that it may not quite match I Claudius for sheer acting and scriptwriting brilliance, but it's definitely a close second.

Anyone else love historical dramas? Which ones stand out for you?

munckee · October 2023

Rome is great, Wolf Hall is another great drama.

The Bernard Cornwall Last Kingdom series is brilliant, his obsession with accuracy on historical weapons, clothing, locations and events is as good as the drama itself.

Moloch · October 2023

I'd put the first season right up there, but for all that there's a lot of fun in Season Two, you can feel them cramming everything in to get to the conclusion, because they hadn't been renewed for a third season.

Offset · October 2023

Timcito said:

I've nearly finished watching the whole thing yet again on DVD and have been enthralled yet again by it. I still think that it may not quite match I Claudius for sheer acting and scriptwriting brilliance, but it's definitely a close second.

Anyone else love historical dramas? Which ones stand out for you?

Ooooh. Not aware of that one. Is it on a streaming service?

I Claudius can't be surpassed - script, acting, ensemble cast, memories of watching it with my Mum & Dad... just superb.

I need to re-watch it!

FelineGuitars · October 2023

Offset said:

Timcito said:

I've nearly finished watching the whole thing yet again on DVD and have been enthralled yet again by it. I still think that it may not quite match I Claudius for sheer acting and scriptwriting brilliance, but it's definitely a close second.

Anyone else love historical dramas? Which ones stand out for you?

Ooooh. Not aware of that one. Is it on a streaming service?

I Claudius can't be surpassed - script, acting, ensemble cast, memories of watching it with my Mum & Dad... just superb.

I need to re-watch it!

I bought I Claudius on DVD during lockdown and thoroughly enjoyed revisiting it . I was 11 when it was on TV and whilst I enjoyed it , the importance of some of the slower paced stuff eluded me at that age , but was so much better this time around.

And what a damn cast!

I am enjoying Rome a lot at the moment, but not binge watching it although I have rewatched a couple of the early episodes as I got to know the characters better and wanted to make the connections better.

I hadn't previously known about Julius Caesar's seizures I confess and crossing the Rubicon makes more sense now too.

rze99 · October 2023

Wolf Hall. Fantastic.

CoffeeAndTV · October 2023

I love Rome, I’ve watched it more times than I care to count.

DiscoStu · October 2023

I tried watching Rome when it first came out but struggled with it. I'm friends with Kevin McKidd and can only see 'Kev' when I see him in stuff. With all the praise given to Ray Stevenson lately I should maybe give it another go.

ToneControl · October 2023

I thought Rome was great, even bought the boxed set

Spartacus (Starz) is fun, but quite lascivious

Black Sails was very good

does Peaky Blinders count?

I loved Vikings, so intense

Versaille was very good too

ToneControl · October 2023

Marco Polo was excellent

LionAquaLooper · October 2023

I agree. Rome is excellent.

Vikings was good but there's actuality little known about Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons so a lot of it was already made up to begin with. But they kept renewing the show so the writers then had to make even more stuff up. I stopped watching when Ragnar died.

Last Kingdom was also good but the books are better, as they usually are. I want the BBC to make Cornwell's "Grail Quest" series into a TV show though. In my opinion it's much better than the story of Alfred the Great and the Norsemen.

Anybody know if there are any good drama series set in Ancient Egypt? I'd love to watch something like that.

oh_pollo · October 2023

I guess Chernobyl counts as an historical drama? And the '84 drama Bodyline is frequently cited as being one of the best but I haven't seen that in a long time.

ToneControl · October 2023

LionAquaLooper said:

I agree. Rome is excellent.

Vikings was good but there's actuality little known about Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons so a lot of it was already made up to begin with. But they kept renewing the show so the writers then had to make even more stuff up. I stopped watching when Ragnar died.

Last Kingdom was also good but the books are better, as they usually are. I want the BBC to make Cornwell's "Grail Quest" series into a TV show though. In my opinion it's much better than the story of Alfred the Great and the Norsemen.

Anybody know if there are any good drama series set in Ancient Egypt? I'd love to watch something like that.

I found this
The Cleopatras (TV Mini Series 1983) - IMDb

stufisher · October 2023

What about The Tudors and The Borgias? Haven't watched either but I do have them somewhere, unopened in a box!

Rome is top notch ... I think Auntie Beeb invested c.£60M in its making ... a record for BBC TV dramas at that time.

I recall I Claudius from first time round but I found it a bit heavy going as an dullard teenager who didn't know owt about history ... maybe I need to buy it and watch it again as a dullard crustie who doesn't know owt about history!

Stratavarious · October 2023

Egypt miniseries by BBC dramatises some of the key archaeological discoveries.,, Tut’s tomb, Ramses statue & Belzoni, Rosetta Stone, etc. My kids loved it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0483603/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Very well made.

theatreanchor · October 2023

oh_pollo said:

I guess Chernobyl counts as an historical drama? And the '84 drama Bodyline is frequently cited as being one of the best but I haven't seen that in a long time.

Chernobyl excellent, as is the OST.

Timcito · October 2023

Offset said:

Timcito said:

I've nearly finished watching the whole thing yet again on DVD and have been enthralled yet again by it. I still think that it may not quite match I Claudius for sheer acting and scriptwriting brilliance, but it's definitely a close second.

Anyone else love historical dramas? Which ones stand out for you?

Ooooh. Not aware of that one. Is it on a streaming service?

I Claudius can't be surpassed - script, acting, ensemble cast, memories of watching it with my Mum & Dad... just superb.

I need to re-watch it!

I think Rome may have been on Netflix originally. My wife got hold of the DVDs at some point.

I was thinking that one of its remarkable features is the way they managed to create two likeable characters in the lead roles whose moral code is abhorrent to anyone living in the 21st century. They kill, torture, deceive, you name it, but they are presented in such a way that we appreciate they live in different times and do not inflict pain or suffering if they can help it. All too often, though, even good historical dramas will 'update' the moral standards of heroes so that modern audiences can more readily warm to them. Rome takes a risk in avoiding this ... well, mostly avoiding it, at least.

But yes, what a production I Claudius was. I've seen it countless times, and I'm struck now by how little action there is. Most of it is mere dialogue between characters, and yet the whole thing is utterly gripping from start to end. I first saw it with my dad when I was in the 6th form at school, and I have especially fond memories of that.

The two series complement each other well. Rome begins with the conflict between Caesar and Pompey, and ends with Octavian as a young man. I Claudius begins with Octavian as a middle-aged emperor and takes the saga forward from there.

Cranky · October 2023

I forgot about Rome. I started watching it around the time we bought a home and had our first baby. So, yeah, I didn’t get that far.

The Last Kingdom was a good series.

Otherwise I’m more into historical comedies — History of the World, Men in Tights, Year One, etc.

Dominic · October 2023

I haven't seen Rome but I thought Frankie Howerd was great in Up Pompei

Greatape · October 2023

ToneControl said:

I thought Rome was great, even bought the boxed set

Spartacus (Starz) is fun, but quite lascivious

Black Sails was very good

does Peaky Blinders count?

I loved Vikings, so intense

Versaille was very good too

Crikey, yes - Black Sails was a great romp.

DrCornelius · October 2023

The Rome you are talking about - was this the one with the rather attractive brunette lead character who was usually getting in or out of a bath ? Great show if so although I don’t remember much else about it

Kilgore · October 2023

LionAquaLooper said:

Anybody know if there are any good drama series set in Ancient Egypt? I'd love to watch something like that.

If you're interested in the later Ptolemaic Period you could try Carry on Cleo. Historians dispute some of the details but it's a fascinating insight into Egyptian politics and culture leading up to Roman rule.

munckee · October 2023

Spartacus and the prequel series are good if you like loads of violence and sex.

victorludorum · October 2023

Wasn't Rome like a soft porn film?

Timcito · October 2023

munckee said:

Spartacus and the prequel series are good if you like loads of violence and sex.

Going back to I Claudius, it's curious just how inauthentic the violence in it was. The vast majority took place off screen, but if it was on screen, such as in the assassination of Caligula, it was unashamedly 'theatrical.' The assassins in this scene sort of move a sword-like object across Caligula's body almost as though it was not really making contact with his body. He howls in pain, and then the blood was added a few seconds later.

And yet it didn't matter. Violence was a very real part of the various conflicts that unfolded in the series, but it was mostly imagined. Caligula's children are raped and then murdered ... in the next room. Caligula chains up his sister and cuts open her belly to extract the 'god' she is carrying ... but behind closed doors, and the screams are all we hear. At the time, that sense of imagined violence was chilling enough, but it remained in the background, which enabled the viewers to focus more on the dialogue and intrigue. I'd guess that if it were shown to a modern Netflix audience, it wouldn't cut the mustard. Now, viewers need to see the blood spurt out of the wound, the leg hacked off, and the fingernails torn out.

FelineGuitars · October 2023

DrCornelius said:

The Rome you are talking about - was this the one with the rather attractive brunette lead character who was usually getting in or out of a bath ? Great show if so although I don’t remember much else about it

Ah - Polly Walker , who was also in Call Of Duty as Gill Biggeloe

Image: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/caprica/images/8/85/Polly_Walker.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/260?cb=20171122051342

DrCornelius · October 2023

FelineGuitars said:

DrCornelius said:

The Rome you are talking about - was this the one with the rather attractive brunette lead character who was usually getting in or out of a bath ? Great show if so although I don’t remember much else about it

Ah - Polly Walker , who was also in Call Of Duty as Gill Biggeloe

That’s her Jon, very easy on the eye that one …

rlw · October 2023

Anyone remember Play for Today ? IMO, these, and the Shakespeare's that the Beeb ran at the same kind of time, simply pissed on everything that's been done since. I, Claudius was very very good I'll admit and probably one of the best things they've ever done.

Moloch · October 2023

DrCornelius said:

The Rome you are talking about - was this the one with the rather attractive brunette lead character who was usually getting in or out of a bath ? Great show if so although I don’t remember much else about it

Atia of the Julii. And I'm pretty sure she only got out of the bath once or twice in the series, so those scenes clearly made a major impression.

Understandably so, because she is a 13/10.

Timcito · October 2023

rlw said:

Anyone remember Play for Today ? IMO, these, and the Shakespeare's that the Beeb ran at the same kind of time, simply pissed on everything that's been done since. I, Claudius was very very good I'll admit and probably one of the best things they've ever done.

That 'Play for Today' era was fascinating because much of the drama confronted issues that emerged from the closet in England following WWII: teenage pregnancy, promiscuity, homosexuality, divorce, teen violence, the generation gap, and such like. There was a sense in which the world of the wartime generation was under assault, and many of the plays at this time broke new ground in dealing with controversial topics.

theatreanchor · October 2023

rlw said:

Anyone remember Play for Today ? IMO, these, and the Shakespeare's that the Beeb ran at the same kind of time, simply pissed on everything that's been done since. I, Claudius was very very good I'll admit and probably one of the best things they've ever done.

Yep. Excellent stuff, now mostly forgotten or consigned to BBC DVDs or BFI blu rays.

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"Rome" - the best historical TV drama ever?

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