"I have survived to middle age with half my wits while thousands have died with all of theirs intact! Evidently, quality of wits is moreso important than quantity." Too true.
An interesting note on Claudius was that he was a historian. The beauty of being a historian is that rather then learning from your mistakes you can learn from someone else's, which is probably why he was able to take over Britain which probably made him one of Rome's most important emperors and one to change the course of history itself.
He also remembered the historian's advice when he was still a scholar, to exaggerate his stammer ( and his wits which isn't half by any means)as to lower his enemies guard and think of him as weak when it comes to communicating his thoughts but not the fast and sharp thinking that his step-grandmother had long suspected of him.
@@pepefrogic3034 You need an education, you are making half wits look look scholars! There are very real reasons why Britain was an attractive fertile grain production country, well as copious amounts of silver amongst them! Go read some books for a change,
This show is absolute proof that basic sets, small casts and low budgets can easily be overcome by quality acting and screen writing. Can anyone get this message through to the so-called film makers of today, with their all looks, no talent teen actors and CG laden, brainless pap they churn out?
Hi! I am here from 11 years in the future! No, no we can't get the message through to them. In fact, it seems only to have egged them on producing ever worse excrement, sire. Forgive us, sire.
One of the factors that makes this series so grand is the fact that there is no background music, interfering with the audiences' concentration on the acting. So often these days, background music is everywhere 'setting the mood' when instead it should be the craft of the actor doing so. Background mood music is like sugar in our food - everywhere, to our ultimate detriment.
True. I am sickened by the soundtracks accompanying dialogue in modern productions. Most evident in US TV series and I’m not even the one watching them. 😬
such phenomenal acting. Jacobi is truly amazing as Claudius. His tics, stammers and twitches are so perfect and natural you would swear he's not acting!
People did think he was naturally a stammerer with ticks. When he went back to the stage he would get compliments from theatregoers on how well he managed to conceal it. Jacobi also said he had to work hard not to continue to incorporate the ticks, limp and stutter beyond the role.
"Ulysses, on the other hand, when he rose to speak was at first silent. He kept his eyes fixed upon the ground. There was no play nor graceful movement from his sceptre, and he kept it straight and stiff like a man unpracticed in oratory. One might have taken him for a mere churl and simpleton, but when he raised his voice, and the words came driving from his deep chest like winter snow before the wind, then there was none to touch him, and no man thought further of what he looked like." - Iliad, Book 3
Though the last three episodes of the series are strong, this to me is the real climax of entire production. The "idiot" Claudius recieves the throne and proves himself sharper than not just the senate but arguably most of the imperial family.
The people are so easily enamored by bombastic tyrants, when the meek and wise would rule a hundredfold times better. Nothing changes. Trump was Nero, Boris was Nero, Putin is Nero, Xinping is Nero, Bolsonaro is Nero, Berlusconi is Nero. People swallow it. Why? Only the lord knows.
@@Hahaa99 If anything, Flavian dynasty exalted his reputation. Don't forget Vespasian's mistress was a former slave of Antonia, Claudius' mother. It's no wonder there's no trace of the funny curtain tale in the Flavian writer Josephus Flavius.
@@tiberiuscave4617 Thanks for bringing that up 👍 Very interesting. I see now that the most renowned Roman historians such as Tacitus, Seutonius and Cassius Dio wrote after the Flavian Dynasty
This show seems to have held up well over the decades. It's been a long time since I watched it, and I figured it would look a little amateurish after all this time. But for a TV show shot on a sound stage in the 1970s, it looks good and sounds good. And of course good acting never goes bad.
Well, if it can impress me, a 15 year old boy who's used to widescreen and HD, then it'll be impressive for a long time! I got this for my 15th birthday, and I can't believe how good it is!
And this is a brilliant example of why this version of "I, Claudius" can never be bettered. One of the two takeaway performances in a cast so talented it makes me ache to think about it: Sir Derek Jacobi as Claudius, and the late Sir John Hurt, who simply stole the whole show as Caligula. Little factoid about the latter. Apparently Jack Gleeson, who played Joffrey Baratheon, was advised to look up Hurt's performance as Caligula. Gleeson did, and, after watching John Hurt as Caligula over and over again, based his portrayal of Joffrey on Hurt's Caligula, now widely accepted as THE rolled-gold standard on how to portray a batshit crazy ruler!
@@CptMark Dranted, but you should fing that I covered her in the comment about the cast being so brilliantly talented it makes one ache thinking about it.
The best TV drama ever made. I watched it at the time and bought it in iTunes when it became available. The quality means it can be watched over and over
One of my favorite moments in what is still my all-time favorite mini-series. I remember when I first saw it back in the 70's on 'Masterpiece Theater" and I was stunned by how incredibly powerful, well-written, well-acted and (on occasion) downright witty it was! It made me a fan of Jacobi, Phillips, Hurt & others and still counts as a gold standard of "sand and sandal" epics. Thanks for posting this!
I saw this for the first time when BBC4 kindly decided to repeat it the last few months. What a programme with some of the finest actors and actresses the UK has had to offer and fantastic writing, pacing and drama. Born in an era of CGI, big budgets and cosmetic surgery it was hard at first to overlook the visual limitations but I was captivated by the performances which outweighed all of that. A perfectly formed 12-course feast of television which is as well worth watching now as in 1976.
In BBC English, Claudius said, "Is Me what you have now, there is not other options for the emperor's job vacancy but me or the blade of the pretorian guards against you, so suck it, get over it and work together"
There are no small or big roles, just acting professionally at 100-120%. The fun is the very British actors are playing @130% the roles of the Ancient Roman dynasty who in AD43+/- had conquered their homeland.
Notice Bernard Hill in the background? He became best known internationally for Theoden in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Also Yosser in Boys From The Blackstuff. Only gripe about this scene is that Cassius Chaerea was a national hero, and in the book Claudius reminds him of this before condemning him, and Cassius salutes Claudius without saying a word. This remains however the greatest TV drama series of all time.
This is what good acting looks like. Today, many so-called TV-producers couldn't produce anything close to this, even if their lives depended on it. This is the age of Trumpism and Give no thought on your fellow man.
I loved watching this series on PBS in the 1980s/1990s. Sadly, I can't find good quality videos of all the episodes on RU-vid. Or am I just not looking in the right places? Can anyone help?
+Geoff Marcus-Baxter HBO Rome is brilliant... but there can be no 'remake' of I, Claudius! The original is timeless and no remake will ever do it justice. I get your sentiment though, there isn't anything around like this today. A great shame.
When we were watching, we all anticipated him showing his oration without the stuttering. When it arrives, it was beautiful. Read the actual Claudius's reign. It was a good reign for the Romans.
I can remember watching this series, as an entirely ignorant eleven year-old, in 1976, and being fascinated. I had no idea who these historical characters were and not much of an idea of what was going on. However, the acting, the writing and the atmosphere were so compelling that I just couldn't turn away from it. I still remember Claudius' last phrase in the series and often quote it today in reference to the political and social situation in many countries today: "Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out".
@ArthasvsLeon in fact the killing of an emperor's or king's family was common practice in order to make sure nobidy from the family would claim the throne.
@billy1587 That's Graves and sensational historians who wrote such things. Claudius likely took the title as soon as Caligula was declared dead and got the Imperial Guard for support. Some even speculate he may have known of a plot to kill Caligula but those who did the deed were condemned quickly afterwards.
I got the dvd collection of this, saw it as a child and loved this series ^^ But the dvd collection I have is of crappy quality, THIS is gorgeous, but mine is grany and some lines reminding me of ol' vhs days appear Irritating, but it does little to take away any enjoyment ^^
I doubt the Claudians would have lasted longer than they did. We only have the Roman historians as evidence of their reign so it's possible the Flavians wanted to make sure posterity remembered the previous dynasty as cruel and crazy. From what I've read the Senate was dead tired of the Claudians so it's unlikely Britannicus could have done much unless he turned out to be a great ruler. He was after all really young and inexperienced. Emperor Vespasian was what Rome needed at the time.
This is easily my fav moment form the show ( the Messalina beheading coming in a close second). Now we get to see claudius show everyone that he has the brains Rome has needed for so long and the heart to use it to the best that he can. HAIL THE EMPEROR!
lol 2:04 you would never guess that guard right behind him would one day be playing the role of king theodin in lord of the rings. Or the captain in titanic
@Sonnabend00 Most sources say that Cassius Chaera was allowed to die by the sword which he used in the murder of the Caesonia and Julia. If so, then it was generous on Claudius' part to allow that. I might have had Cassius crucified for the crimes of murder and treason.
