TV Gold

The Roman world seems to rather in vogue at the moment (July 2005) with Sky One currently showing a Thursday night series entitled ?Life And Death In Rome? and recently announced that there is to be a forthcoming special edition three DVD set of Ridley Scott?s ?Gladiator? film. I have also heard that plans are now being drawn up for a sequel film to ?Gladiator?. It therefore now seems highly appropriate to step back in time almost thirty years to the truly classic BAFTA award winning timeless BBC serial ?I, Claudius? whose dramatic content remains as both unsettling and engaging here in the twenty-first century as it did on its initial transmission. With its distinctive title sequence (the slow moving snake across a mosaic patterned floor) matched to its highly memorable theme tune (with a slight snake ?sting? sound to it) one immediately realises that here is one of the finest dramatic historical series drama presentations that the BBC have ever mounted.

It?s a safe bet that all true fans will have long since obtained a copy of the stunning DVD box set which was released almost three years ago and for me I still think it is a timeless classic design. I distinctly remember when I initially got my hands on a copy I was so hugely impressed with the robust and highly distinctive packaging that had been produced that I was showing it off to friends and neighbours at the time. You open the box and each disc in the set is contained in its own individual padded sleeve decoratively illustrated with a front character/s photo and rear episode title chapter details. I know it probably seems like a rather simplistic packaging concept but it does I feel rather imbue each disc with sense of ?valued jewel? status. As we know we are not only served up by the twelve episodes on four discs but the set features, joy of joys, a bonus fifth disc loaded with series enhancing extras. By far the best is the specially recorded ?I Claudius ? A Television Epic? program featuring exclusive interviews with various cast members and series director Herbert Wise and is a sensitively lit and informative piece which is well worth seeing. Some of the cast members are offered the chance to select favourite scenes from the series, not an easy task when the material is of such a high quality, however those selected in the 30 odd minute feature are certainly worthy examples. The ?alternative scenes? (albeit only two on offer from the final episode) and ?Family Tree? (offering the viewer the opportunity to hop around clicking on series various characters for photos and brief notes) options are fairly typical extras to be added to the mix. However I?m a little puzzled by the black and white ?The Epic That Never Was? feature with narrator Dirk Bogarde taking us through a documentary on a supposed big budget version of the series. In my opinion all it achieves is to further highlight just how good the BBC series of ?I Claudius? is. To round the ?Special Features? off we have, if really any proof be needed, just how highly successful this series became shortly after original transmission with three of the many awards that it gained (Sian Lloyd and Derek Jacobi picking up BAFTA awards and Derek Jacobi gaining a Variety Club award).

At times it does seem difficult to believe due to the effective use of background sounds and sensitive lighting and set design that ?I, Claudius? was entirely filmed in the studio. Throughout the entire run you get the distinct feeling of a location shot production which is definitely something in its favour. It is certainly all credit to series designer Tim Harvey in this aspect of the production. Praise is also due to the excellent work of Pam Meager (Make Up) and Barbara Kronig (Costume Designer). Added to this you have a highly distinguished cast who make the most of the material they are given resulting in many outstanding performances both from regular (Derek Jacobi, Sian Philips, Brian Blessed and John Hurt) and guest cast members (Stratford Johns, Kevin Stoney and Christopher Biggins) which makes it easy to see why ?I Claudius? continues to be held in such high esteem by all those whom have seen it.

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From S?an Phillips' book, Public Places : My Life in the Theater, with Peter O'Toole and Beyond:
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I, Claudius was, after a bumpy start, one of the most pleasurable, carefree jobs I'd ever had.

I'd worked with Herbie Wise, the director, before at Granada...  Herbie laid down the ground rules early on.  I had all sorts of ideas about the subtlety of my character, Livia.  Derek Jacobi, in one of his first big television parts, was still doubtful about how he was going to play Claudius; we all had our little private problems.  After the readthrough -- pretty dull -- Herbie said, "Okay, let's get up and try a bit.'  We played a few scenes.  He was appalled. 'Look,' he said (in effect), 'we don't have much time and we are certainly not playing some kind of English costume drama.  This is how we're going to do this show -- BIG, up-front, poster paint.  It's my decision. No negotiation.' Consternation and tears (men, as well).  Reluctant peformances at rehearsals, wails (very British) of 'But this is so obvious.'  Remorseless, he whipped us on towards the first episdoe.  It was a nightmare.  One of my big scenes came right at the end of the last twelve-hour day  'Sorry, Sian.  We have ten minutes to get this.  Get a move on.' Somehow, we got it done -- on the run.  And it was over. Episode One was finished and we were committed to this somewhat un-English style of acting. Would it be good or awful, we wondered.  Herbie was confident.  Martin [Lisemore] was thinking hard.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I'd love to know what scene in Ep. 1 she's referring to. There's not much more in the book about I, Claudius.

<!--QuoteBegin-TrentinaNE+Jul 20 2005, 06:22 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TrentinaNE @ Jul 20 2005, 06:22 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->From S?an Phillips' book, Public Places : My Life in the Theater, with Peter O'Toole and Beyond:
I'd love to know what scene in Ep. 1 she's referring to.  There's not much more in the book about I, Claudius.
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I agree with you on that. I have also had a good flick through the rather thick hardback book to which you are refering to.

I tell you I like nothing better than spending two to three hours each midday Saturday thumbing through the shelves down at the Southampton Civic Centre library. This week I was flicking through a paperback copy of ?The Finest Crew In The Fleet ? The Next Generation Cast on Screen and Off? by Adam Shrager. Obviously written from an American perspective it features detailed chapters on all the leading cast members of the successful Star Trek series. On turning my attention to the ?Engaging His Career? section of Patrick Stewart (page 20) the following paragraph caught my interest.

"Of course, during these years, American audiences would be hard pressed to recognise Stewart from his theatre roles, but would likely recognise him as Sejanus, the sinister lover of history?s most famous nymphomaniac, Messalina, in the miniseries I, Claudius, originally airing on PBS in 1976. ?I found Sejanus to be one of the most delightful and charming characters that I have ever played, utterly irresistible, witty, sophisticated, gentle, caring, and loving,? Stewart exclaimed sarcastically in 1990. ?Of course at the time when you are doing something like that I, Claudius finally became, this landmark series? My favourite scene was actually the scene where Augustus died. You remember that scene when he died and the camera stayed a single uncut shot on his face. Brian persuaded the director that he would die with his eyes open. And that you would see him die and his eyes would never close. And if you watch very carefully there is an extraordinary moment when the light, the light seems to go out of those eyes and the face never moves. It?s quite magical!? The ?Brian? Stewart refers to here is his lifelong friend Brian Blessed, whom he has recently said he would like to stand with arm in arm on the summit of Mount Everest."

Its rather a shame that this section of the book didn?t convey Patrick?s feeling about his highly successful ?Lenin? character as featured in ?Fall of Eagles? but at least he talks about I, Claudius far more than Sian Phillips does in her autobiography.
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Thanks very much for sharing that snippet, Sarah. The author(s), however, got one detail wrong:
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Sejanus, the sinister lover of history?s most famous nymphomaniac, Messalina, in the miniseries I, Claudius<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sejanus was the lover of Claudius's cousin Livilla, played by Patricia Quinn. Messalina's lover (or the last of them) was played by the lovely and talented Stuart Wilson.

By the way, I saw Ms. Quinn in another role recently. She played Mona Castlebar in 1987's Fortunes of War. I was so taken with that mini-series that I picked up the first source novel, The Balkan Trilogy, at the library last weekend. I'm only about 70 pages into it, but am enjoying Olivia Manning's crisp yet highly evocative writing style very much.