I, Claudius (TV series)
| I, Claudius | |
|---|---|
 Opening titles |
|
| Format | Period drama |
| Created by | Robert Graves |
| Written by | Jack Pulman |
| Starring | Derek Jacobi Siân Phillips Brian Blessed George Baker John Hurt |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 13 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 50+ minutes per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC2 |
| Original run | 20 September 1976 – 6 December 1976 |
I, Claudius is a 1976 BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves's I, Claudius and Claudius the God. Written by Jack Pulman,[1] it proved one of the corporation's most successful drama serials of all time. It starred Derek Jacobi as Claudius, with Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, George Baker, John Hurt, and Patrick Stewart.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
I, Claudius follows the history of Rome, narrated by the elderly Claudius, from the death of Marcellus, nephew and son-in-law of Augustus, in the first episode to Claudius' own death in the last. The series opens with Augustus, the emperor of Rome, attempting to find an heir, and his wife Livia plotting to elevate her own son Tiberius to this position. The plotting and double-crossing continue for many decades, through the conspiracy of Sejanus and the rule of the lunatic emperor Caligula, culminating in Claudius' seemingly accidental rise to power.
[edit] Production
The series was produced by Joan Sullivan and Martin Lisemore, and directed by Herbert Wise in the studios at BBC Television Centre. Production was delayed because of complex negotiations between the BBC and the copyright holders of Alexander Korda's aborted 1937 film version. This did, however, give the scriptwriter Jack Pulman more time to fine-tune his script.
[edit] Music
Wilfred Josephs wrote the title music. David Wulstan and the Clerkes of Oxenford ensemble provided the (diegetic) music for most episodes.
[edit] Awards and reception
Among other awards, the series won three BAFTAs in 1977 (Derek Jacobi, Best Actor (TV); Siân Phillips, Best Actress (TV); Tim Harvey, Best Design (TV)).
The series was subsequently broadcast in the United States as part of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre series, where it received critical acclaim. Tim Harvey won a 1978 Emmy for Outstanding Art Direction. The producers and director were nominated but did not win. None of the actors were nominated for Emmys. In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, I, Claudius was placed 12th.
In 2007 it was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."[2]
[edit] Cast
The major cast included
[edit] Legacy
I Claudius was preceded by the 1968 ITV historical drama The Caesars which covered very similar ground, but differed in its less sensationalist approach to the main characters and their motivations.[3] The BBC's subsequent historical dramas The Borgias (1981) and The Cleopatras (1983) were produced in a similar vein, although they did not match the critical and commercial success of I, Claudius.
In the early 1980s I Claudius was parodied on the children's educational television show Sesame Street. The muppet character Cookie Monster is set in a skit resembling Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke, but as "Monsterpiece Theatre" host "Alistair Cookie." Cookie Monster playfully introduces the show parody, and a tile mosaic resembling that of I Claudius but with "I" replaced with "Me", Cookie Monster's image (in a toga pointing at himself) replacing Claudius', and Slimey the Worm slowly crawling across the mosaic parodying the snake in the TV series. The show's title sequence was also parodied in the opening credits of the 1986 British sitcom Blackadder II.
[edit] VHS/DVD
Most VHS and DVD versions of the TV series include the 1965 BBC documentary The Epic That Never Was, about the uncompleted Korda film version of the first book, featuring interviews with key production staff and actors as well as most of the surviving footage. The 2002 UK DVD edition also contains a documentary on the series, I, Claudius – a Television Epic, as well as some alternate and deleted scenes.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ In Pulman's script for Claudius's speech to the Senate in the final episode, Claudius prophesies that "the man who dwells by the pool shall open graves, and the dead shall live again". This is a reference to the scriptwriter, Jack Pulman, and a pun on the book's author, Robert Graves.
- ^ Poniewozik, James (September 6, 2007). "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME". Time (Time.com). http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1651341_1659192_1652529,00.html. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166037/
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: I, Claudius (TV series) |
- 1976 in British television
- 1976 British television programme debuts
- 1976 television series endings
- 1970s British television series
- Depictions of Nero on television
- Films set in the 1st century
- British television miniseries
- Masterpiece Theatre
- I, Claudius
- Period television series
- Secret histories
- Television dramas set in ancient Rome
- Television programs based on novels
