arnoudwokke Simply the best acted series on Roman history I've eer seen.

alexeykorovin This TV series is a must-watch for anyone interested in movies. Although, as a TV show, it's pretty low-budget, the plot is strong and the actors' performances are so good that overall the movie is simply great.It's interesting that the portrayal of Caligula is somewhat different here from the one in the Caligula movie from 1979. This series shows the degradation of Rome in much greater detail and at a much larger scale.The main character, Claudius, is a very likable character. Even though I watched this series years ago, I still have the phrase in my head which one of the imperial advisers says to the young Claudius: "Do you want to live a long a happy life? Exaggerate your stuttering..." Says it all.

sHx "I, Claudius" was the most tedious TV series of my childhood. It promised a lot, and delivered nothing, to satisfy my childhood expectations. No land battles, no naval clashes, no chariot races, not even a sword fight, for Mars' sake! In fact, you didn't even get to see the sky! It was a show in which people dressed like Romans moved about indoors, talked, laughed, sometimes screamed and sometimes got killed in dramatic scenes that lasted only 5 to 10 seconds, and then moved and talked more. Yet, this BBC production, set in the early decades of Roman Empire, had my parents, elder siblings and our relatives and neighbours, most of whom were from Kurdish country-side, glued to their television sets week after week, and talking about the characters and plot twists day after day.For the next thirty years, each time I heard about "I, Claudius", I was torn between the almost traumatic claustrophobia that the series left on my memory and the ever growing curiosity to find out the story that enthralled my childhood elders. In the last fifteen years, I hired "I, Claudius" from the video store twice, and returned them after watching only the first 15 minutes, still unimpressed.Then, it happened. Three weeks ago, bereft of choice in the video store, I again hired the DVDs, promising myself that I'd watch no less than the first hour, no matter what. Well, I ended up watching the 650 minute saga three times, back to back in nine days. I watched nothing else on TV for nine days; no news, no sport, no music clip. It was "I, Claudius" and me; I was happy. I even signed up to IMDb to write about it.The series showcases the mother of all internal family conflicts. The Roman Empire features like a family business that the dynasty is quarreling over. If you are not a 'fool' like Claudius, you are either killed or banished. Power kills, and absolute power... well, you know what it does. By the time young Marcellus stands up in the Arena and says "Let the games begin!" (at around 30-minute mark), you know you'll be glued to the TV for a long time, and say, "What a story!" at the end.This is TV at its best. The story, the script, acting, direction, camera angles, sets, costumes, they are all flawless. Close up shots of the faces are unmatched except perhaps by those in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. The series is teeming with memorable quotes (Augustus to an orator: "What gifts you Greeks have"; Tiberius about her mother Livia: "They say a snake bit her once and died"; Tiberius' astrologer: "Excellent! I knew it. It's all here. The chart doesn't lie." Claudius to Caligula: "You set the standard of sanity for the whole world"). There are many laugh-out-loud scenes in the series. Augustus Caesar walking before and questioning an endless line of men that has slept with his daughter is unforgettable. Claudius saluting the crowd in the arena and sitting in Caesar's chair is a calculated 'foolishness', yet still hilarious. Augustus' speech to Rome's bachelors, Messelina's competition with a prostitute, Claudius and his ordeal with his very tall wife, and many many others. In fact, there were many more comic scenes than tragic ones.It is impossible to praise individual performances. It is as though just under the characters' competition for supremacy in the Roman Empire, there is another, an invisible competition among the actors to win the hearts of the audience as the best character performer. And just the way Claudius is pulled behind a curtain and declared an emperor against his will, one feels like pulling out Derek Jacobi from the pack and declare him the best actor. Just like Claudius understates his intelligence, Jacobi understates his presence in the company of others, giving them the floor with minimum interference. He never seeks to dominate the screen until he's chosen as the Caesar. He has plenty of screen time by himself as the narrator.Only one downside. A technical one. The sound in the DVD recording was inconsistent, sometimes loud sometimes low volume.Do yourself a favour and watch "I, Claudius". You won't regret it. 10/10

jamesroo like all TV and movies based on historical events they add things that are quite untrue.the two most glaring examples of this in i Claudius is the portrait of Livia and her son Tiberius.and the problem with this is Livia drives this story mostly so her character is so important as this murderous evil woman. i went and read many historical books on Augustus after seeing this great TV series.mind u it is one of the best I've seen besides shaka Zulu.according to most historians Livia was a devoted and loyal wife of Augustus till the end and had nothing to do with his death.Augustus lived a long and healthy life for a person back then and died old age and some aliment he caught at his old age.all these murders Livia is supposed to have done in this series has no proof of any kind.Livia by the way had all the power she could want as the wife of Augustus.he was devoted to her.Tiberius did become emperor through the death of wounds Germanic's had from battles and these became infected causing his death leaving Tiberius next in line as emperor.in his early life Tiberius was a competent general on the battlefield and was a pretty good emperor most of his early reign.only as he grew old he became feeble and what we would call a dirty old man.no one is sure if his death was by Caligula or not.and again at the beginning Caligula was a competent emperor.when he caught this unknown fever is when he became mad.so i understand the liberties taken in this great series about Livia and Tiberius but remember this is done all the time in historical facts in movies and TV series. this is still a great TV series with great performances.