there be too little documentary value in this docu drama and and frankly speak i do not exactly know what the bbc invest so much in it . it may have be for rating reason at the time of the release of the gladiator big studio movie and i be just speculate . the film focus on the history of a gladiator by the time the colosseum be build we learn a few new fact about the daily life and train method of the gladiator and the organization of the fight and but the documentary value be too dilute and the fiction part not really too interesting . i find confuse the mix of first person story telling and historical comment in the off screen commentary . overall a below average docu drama .