I, Claudius (TV series)

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I, Claudius
Cover of I, Claudius DVD
Genre	Period drama
Running time	45 minutes
Starring
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original channel	BBC One
Original run	1976–1976 (subsequently repeated)
No. of episodes	12

I, Claudius, 1976 was a BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves's I Claudius and Claudius the God. Written by Jack Pulman, it proved one of the corporation's most successful drama serials of all time.

Contents 1 Cast 2 Music 3 Awards and reception 4 Production 5 Plot 5.1 Differences to the novels 6 VHS/DVD 7 Trivia 8 In popular culture 9 Links

[edit] Cast

The major cast included:

Actor	Character	Episode
Derek Jacobi	Claudius
Siân Phillips	Livia
George Baker	Tiberius
John Hurt	Caligula
Brian Blessed	Augustus
Patrick Stewart	Sejanus
Margaret Tyzack	Antonia
Patricia Quinn	Livilla
John Paul	Marcus Agrippa
Sheila White	Messalina
Christopher Biggins	Nero	12
Ian Ogilvy	Drusus
David Robb	Germanicus
John Castle	Postumus
Fiona Walker	Agrippina
Frances White	Julia
James Faulkner	Herod
Kevin McNally	Castor
John Rhys-Davies	Macro
Christopher Guard	Marcellus
Stratford Johns	Piso
Bernard Hepton	Pallas	11 and 12
John Cater	Narcissus
Barbara Young	Agrippinilla	12
Beth Morris	Drusilla
Simon MacCorkindale	Lucius
Sheila Ruskin	Vipsania
Angela Morant	Octavia
Graham Seed	Britannicus	12
Jo Rowbottom	Calpurnia
Sam Dastor	Cassius
Kevin Stoney	Thrasyllus
Freda Dowie	Caesonia & Sibyl
Irene Hamilton	Plancina
Darien Angadi	Plautius
Peter Bowles	Caractacus	12
Norman Eshley	Marcus
John Bennett	Xenophon
Patsy Byrne	Martina
Douglas Melbourne	Gemellus
Karin Foley	Helen
Earl Rhodes	Gaius
Richard Hunter	Drusus Caesar
Russell Lewis	Young Lucius
Robert Morgan	Young Caligula
Cheryl Johnson	Claudia Octavia
Isabel Dean	Lollia Paulina
Liane Aukin	Aelia
Moira Redmond	Domitia
Bernard Hill	Gratus

[edit] Music

Wilfred Josephs provided the title music.

[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 was widely acclaimed. It has come to be widely regarded as one of the best television series ever made. 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.

[edit] Production

Production of the series was delayed because of complex negotiations between the BBC and the copyright holders of the aborted film version. This did however give the scriptwriter Jack Pulman, who would die in 1979, more time to fine-tune his script.

[edit] Plot

[edit] Differences to the novels

[edit] VHS/DVD

Most VHS and DVD versions of the TV series include a BBC documentary called The Epic That Never Was on the attempted Korda film adaptation 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] Trivia

• In Pulman's script for Claudius's speech to the senate in the final episode, Claudius prophesies that "the man who dwells by the pools shall look into 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.

[edit] In popular culture

• The series is often referred to in popular culture as I, CLAVDIVS ("eye klav divz"), from its title sequence in which the name is styled in capitals of the Old Roman alphabet, which had no letter U, but used V to double for vowel U and consonantal U (a W sound).
• The writhing snake from the title sequence is referenced in the title sequence of Blackadder II.

[edit] Links

• History in Film - eipsode guide