Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Derek Jacobi, George Baker, John Hurt, Brian Blessed, Patrick Stewart, Siân Phillips, Patricia Quinn, Christopher Biggins, Ian Ogilvy, James Faulkner, Simon MacCorkindale, Sheila Ruskin, Angela Morant, Graham Seed, Jo Rowbottom, Bernard Hill, Norman Rossington, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hepton, Barbara Young, John Cater, Kevin McNally.
It was one of the most outstanding and involved dramas commissioned by the B.B.C. in the 1970s and remains, nearly forty years after its original transmission, a jewel in the crown of the public broadcaster. I, Claudius was a huge undertaking for the B.B.C. at the time; to catch the splendour and insanity that surrounded the life of Tiberius Claudius Drusus, the man who would become Emperor late in life, was something that might be passed over by 21st Century television executives citing the adaptation as being too expensive or worse not being interesting for the modern day viewer.
Tucked away on B.B.C. 4, I, Claudius had been repeated in full over the last three months in commemoration and celebration of the rich tapestry generated by the corporation in its days as one of the leading exponents of quality drama. The series starred the young Derek Jacobi as the eponymous reluctant hero of Rome and how he saw and recorded his family’s rich and exotic potted history.
What was astonishing for a programme of this magnitude was the array of British acting talent that went hand in glove throughout each episode, the well-known household names, some of the finest actors of their generation all within this microcosm, a genuine piece of television art that the B.B.C. made.
Based on the books by Robert Graves and adapted by Jack Pulman, I, Claudius saw the full range of stars that in today’s world of entertainment would cost millions to pull together. To have John Hurt as the mad and deranged Caligula, George Baker as Tiberius, Brian Blessed as Augustus and Patrick Stewart as the conniving Aelius Sejanus, as well as the dignity afforded the series by having the commanding presence of the now Sir Derek Jacobi in the titular role was a masterstroke.
Looking back nearly 40 years, this golden age of television still holds the viewer’s attention in such a way that it makes that period of history interesting and vital. The set designs, the magnificent and in some cases utterly brutal script and class acting, especially by John Hurt, Brian Blessed, Siân Phillips and Bernard Hepton in the supporting roles, make the mouth salivate with expectation at the thought of each weekly episode.
The B.B.C. has proved over the years since I, Claudius was first shown on British television that it still has the power, the gravitas to make programmes of such quality to last 20, 30 or 40 years but in today’s fast paced world, where people learn some of their history in bite size chunks, it remains to be seen whether they would ever consider making a show of such rare and uninhibited ambition.
Ian D. Hall