Roman Era Television

As many will know I am a huge fan of the Roman era and have countless books, both historical and fiction, on that era.

Have been watching the first series of the Rome TV series which has screened in the US and UK and have not been disappointed. It is very true to the historical sources (with a couple of notable exceptions such as role of Servillia) and has done excellent casting – especially Caesar. The production costs for Rome exceed US$100 million which is almost unprecedented for such a series.

The history of the end of the Roman Republic is so rich that a movie is never going to be enough time to cover it well. But 12 50 minute episodes covers the end of the Gallic War to the Ides of March period very nicely.

TVNZ has just confirmed (with an impressively speedy and helpful response to my e-mail) that they will show Rome later this year. I can’t wait to see it on the big (well bigger than laptop) screen!

And to keep my classical history fetish fulfilled until then, TV One is also showing the Empire mini-series from this Sunday. This series is focused on just after the Ides of March (Will revealing Caesar is killed count as a spoiler 🙂 and appears to be less historically accurate but should still be good to watch.