one of the best british import on masterpiece theater in the usa and the series be a real bicentennial gift from the united kingdom . over a dozen chapter and the series hold the interest throughout and there not a moment that it flag . so many wonderful performance by the player . derek jacobi get his career role in this series a the club foot stutter claudius who survive by just make sure everyone think him a fool and not worth bother about . in the meantime he secretly record his family inner history . the really evil one here be livia play by sian phillips . i be pretty sure that such prime time bitch goddess a joan collins on dynasty and jane wyman in falcon crest model their character on livia because these woman be girl scout compare to livia . livia be the wife of augustus caesar play by brian bless and phillips also get a career role . i would be hard press to decide who be the best caligula ever . john hurt in this series be up against some pretty stiff competition in malcolm mcdowell in the title role of the film caligula or jay robinson in the robe and demetrius and the gladiator . insanity gallop in the caesar family a in the brewsters and in the case of caligula it break the three minute mile . george baker be very good a the pleasure seek tiberius whose succession to the throne sian phillips be work overtime to achieve . patrick stewart with a full head of hair play the opportunistic sejanus who reach for power and take advantage of the increase hedonistic tendency of tiberius in his late year . sejanus would have be his career role have he not become jean luc picard . margaret tyzack who be queen anne in the first churchill get another fine role a antonina and mother of claudius . her other son germanicus fall victim to caesar court politics and her daughter take up with sejanus . her child disappoint her throughout and she like the others fail to see that claudius be not the fool he appear to be . probably sheila white messalina be far closer to the truth than susan hayward worldly woman in demetrius and the gladiator . white play her like the catherine howard of her day and like the legendary nymphomaniac wife of henry viii who be one of the two who henry execute . you have get to love that coitus contest between messalina and the head of the guild of prostitute . guess who win . robert graf live long enough to see his historical fictionalization come to life and i be sure he must have approve . graf do some considerable research into ancient text for i and claudius . his interpretation be as valid a any others we will find of those wild and crazy ancient day of the caesar .