To celebrate my 2,200th review for IMDb, I turn to another of my favourite television series. "I, Claudius" and its sequel "Claudius the God" were historical novels by Robert Graves, written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius. An attempt was made to film it in 1937 with Charles Laughton in the leading role, but the production was abandoned when Laughton's co-star Merle Oberon was injured in a road accident. This BBC television series from 1976 was the first filmed adaptation of the books.
The series follows the history of the early Roman Empire for a period of 78 years from 24 BC to the death of Claudius in AD 54. The only character who appears in every episode is Claudius himself, and in the early ones he only appears in a flash-forward, narrating events which happened before his birth in 10 BC. Classical historians will doubtless be able to spot many inaccuracies, but there would be little point in going through and listing all these as goofs, because the series largely follows the plot devised by Graves, who often departed from the historical record for the sake of literary effect.
The most important changes are those made to the characters of Livia, the second wife of Augustus and Claudius's grandmother, and of Claudius himself. Livia, who dominates the first half of the series, is depicted as an evil schemer determined to ensure that Tiberius, her son by a previous marriage, should succeed his stepfather Augustus as Emperor of Rome. To achieve this end, Livia either murders or blackens the character of anyone she sees as standing in her way. Although rumours did spread to the effect that the historical Livia was suspected of involvement in killing or slandering some of these people, most modern historians dismiss these as malicious fabrications. (Roman historians often worked to a very partisan agenda, which makes it difficult to assess the truth of some of their more lurid allegations).
Graves's other big innovation is to portray Claudius, along with several of his relatives, as an opponent of the Imperial system and a supporter of the restoration of the Republic. Graves appears to have invented these republican leanings in order to provide Livia with a motive for killing certain members of her own close family, such as her son Drusus and her grandson Germanicus. (As Germanicus had been adopted by Tiberius as his heir, he would have had little motive for seeking the return of the Republic, nor would Livia have had any motive for seeking his death). When Claudius's nephew the Emperor Caligula is murdered by his own bodyguard, Claudius has to be persuaded to accept the throne much against his will.
The main strength of the series is the quality of the acting, especially from Derek Jacobi as Claudius, whom he plays as a sort of holy fool. By this I do not mean that Claudius lacks intelligence, but that he is politically naïve, something shown by his belief in the Republic. (The late Roman Republic had not been a golden age of freedom but a period when the state was racked by near-perpetual civil wars as various would-be strongmen competed for power. Despite the corruption and cruelty of some of the early Emperors, they were tolerated precisely because the system preserved civil peace, with wars confined to the distant frontiers of the Empire). It is, however, precisely this naivety which saves Claudius's life because his more ambitious relatives see him as a fool who presents no threat to their ambitions, an impression strengthened by the fact that he talks with a stammer and walks with a limp, the result of an accident at birth.
Yet, despite his good fortune in surviving when many of his friends and family have perished, Jacobi's Claudius is also a tragic figure, particularly in the later episodes when he is betrayed by the one great love of his life, his beautiful young third wife Messalina, who is not only sexually unfaithful but also plots his overthrow with one of her lovers. Following Messalina's betrayal, Claudius sinks into a passive and superstitious fatalism, allowing his depraved great-nephew Nero to succeed him in the deluded belief that Nero's depravity will lead to the collapse of the Imperial system and the restoration of his beloved Republic.
There are too many other fine performances to single them all out, although I should mention Siân Phillips as Livia, Brian Blessed as Augustus and George Baker as Tiberius. Phillips's Livia is almost literally poisonous, poison being her favourite method of eliminating her enemies, and yet manages to be coldly rational as well, convincing herself that her machinations are necessary for the good of the state and that all possible rivals to Tiberius must be removed to avoid the threat of civil war. Augustus, as played by Blessed, is a great bear of a man, at times affable and jovial yet with an alarmingly short temper. His great tragedy is that he fails to realise how easily Livia is able to manipulate him and turn him against members of his own family. Although Tiberius is not a good man, Baker makes us realise that, in his way, he is also a victim of Livia's scheming, which has forced him to take up the position of Emperor, which he never really wanted and for which he feels himself temperamentally unsuited. Having assumed power, however, he is unable to relinquish it, and is driven to desperate measures to retain it.
I first saw this series when I was a teenage schoolboy studying Latin for O-Level, and was enthralled by it. I quickly followed up by reading the novels, and can thank Robert Graves and Jack Pulman, who adapted the books for television, for my enduring fascination with Roman history. 10/10.
The series follows the history of the early Roman Empire for a period of 78 years from 24 BC to the death of Claudius in AD 54. The only character who appears in every episode is Claudius himself, and in the early ones he only appears in a flash-forward, narrating events which happened before his birth in 10 BC. Classical historians will doubtless be able to spot many inaccuracies, but there would be little point in going through and listing all these as goofs, because the series largely follows the plot devised by Graves, who often departed from the historical record for the sake of literary effect.
The most important changes are those made to the characters of Livia, the second wife of Augustus and Claudius's grandmother, and of Claudius himself. Livia, who dominates the first half of the series, is depicted as an evil schemer determined to ensure that Tiberius, her son by a previous marriage, should succeed his stepfather Augustus as Emperor of Rome. To achieve this end, Livia either murders or blackens the character of anyone she sees as standing in her way. Although rumours did spread to the effect that the historical Livia was suspected of involvement in killing or slandering some of these people, most modern historians dismiss these as malicious fabrications. (Roman historians often worked to a very partisan agenda, which makes it difficult to assess the truth of some of their more lurid allegations).
Graves's other big innovation is to portray Claudius, along with several of his relatives, as an opponent of the Imperial system and a supporter of the restoration of the Republic. Graves appears to have invented these republican leanings in order to provide Livia with a motive for killing certain members of her own close family, such as her son Drusus and her grandson Germanicus. (As Germanicus had been adopted by Tiberius as his heir, he would have had little motive for seeking the return of the Republic, nor would Livia have had any motive for seeking his death). When Claudius's nephew the Emperor Caligula is murdered by his own bodyguard, Claudius has to be persuaded to accept the throne much against his will.
The main strength of the series is the quality of the acting, especially from Derek Jacobi as Claudius, whom he plays as a sort of holy fool. By this I do not mean that Claudius lacks intelligence, but that he is politically naïve, something shown by his belief in the Republic. (The late Roman Republic had not been a golden age of freedom but a period when the state was racked by near-perpetual civil wars as various would-be strongmen competed for power. Despite the corruption and cruelty of some of the early Emperors, they were tolerated precisely because the system preserved civil peace, with wars confined to the distant frontiers of the Empire). It is, however, precisely this naivety which saves Claudius's life because his more ambitious relatives see him as a fool who presents no threat to their ambitions, an impression strengthened by the fact that he talks with a stammer and walks with a limp, the result of an accident at birth.
Yet, despite his good fortune in surviving when many of his friends and family have perished, Jacobi's Claudius is also a tragic figure, particularly in the later episodes when he is betrayed by the one great love of his life, his beautiful young third wife Messalina, who is not only sexually unfaithful but also plots his overthrow with one of her lovers. Following Messalina's betrayal, Claudius sinks into a passive and superstitious fatalism, allowing his depraved great-nephew Nero to succeed him in the deluded belief that Nero's depravity will lead to the collapse of the Imperial system and the restoration of his beloved Republic.
There are too many other fine performances to single them all out, although I should mention Siân Phillips as Livia, Brian Blessed as Augustus and George Baker as Tiberius. Phillips's Livia is almost literally poisonous, poison being her favourite method of eliminating her enemies, and yet manages to be coldly rational as well, convincing herself that her machinations are necessary for the good of the state and that all possible rivals to Tiberius must be removed to avoid the threat of civil war. Augustus, as played by Blessed, is a great bear of a man, at times affable and jovial yet with an alarmingly short temper. His great tragedy is that he fails to realise how easily Livia is able to manipulate him and turn him against members of his own family. Although Tiberius is not a good man, Baker makes us realise that, in his way, he is also a victim of Livia's scheming, which has forced him to take up the position of Emperor, which he never really wanted and for which he feels himself temperamentally unsuited. Having assumed power, however, he is unable to relinquish it, and is driven to desperate measures to retain it.
I first saw this series when I was a teenage schoolboy studying Latin for O-Level, and was enthralled by it. I quickly followed up by reading the novels, and can thank Robert Graves and Jack Pulman, who adapted the books for television, for my enduring fascination with Roman history. 10/10.