Evidently, quality of wits is more important than quantity.
—Claudius
This renowned 1976 mini-series (based on the books I Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves) follows the history of the Roman Empire, from the latter reign of Augustus (starting around 24/23 B.C.) to the death of the eponymous character, Claudius, through whose eyes all of the action in the series is seen. The series opens with an elderly Claudius penning his memoirs, which tell of the history of his family.Director Alexander Korda had attempted to film the story in 1937 with Charles Laughton in the role of Claudius, but for various reasons the movie was never completed. When The BBC decided to make their own version they had to negotiate with Korda's production company over screen rights to the story.
The major events which the memoirs (and the TV series) cover are:
The later reign of Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia, Claudius' step-grandfather and grandmother respectively. Augustus wants the children of his ditzy daughter Julia to rule Rome after him, but Evil Matriarch Livia wants Tiberius— her own son from a previous marriage— to become Augustus' heir. Livia's plan to accomplish this is by arranging a marriage between her son and Julia. Unfortunately, a few "impediments" crop up which keep this plan from coming smoothly to fruition. These "impediments" are soon removed by Livia (through the copious use of poison), and Tiberius and Julia are made to marry, but the relationship is a rocky one and it produces no heirs. Julia has children from a marriage previous to her relationship with Tiberius, and it seems as if they will ascend to the throne of Rome after Augustus, but Livia is not one to give up her plans so easily...
Claudius' early life. Which was not easy, what with him being born lame and with a palsy that made him twitch and stutter. The fact that his father was murdered just after he was born, leaving Claudius solely in the care of his unsympathetic mother didn't help things. Claudius was largely considered a fool by the members of his family, but he did manage to make some close friends and supporters— among them Postumus, one of Julia's children (and heir apparent to Augustus.) Unfortunately for Postumus, his position as heir placed him #1 on Livia's "to get rid of" list, so he wasn't going to be sticking around for very long. It was right about this time in Claudius' life that he was to receive from an aged scholar, an important piece of advice: Play the fool and let people think you're an unimportant idiot. Then, they won't try to kill you. (It would turn out to be a very sage piece of advice for a member of the Roman royal family living in this period of history.)
The ascension and reign of Tiberius, who, unfortunately, isn't very happy with the job (since he was nearly an old man before he finally got his hands on it, and loathed being in the public eye in any case.) There are plenty of people who aren't too happy with Tiberius, either, among them his mother Livia, whom he hates and chooses to actively ignore. Tiberius prefers to slack off and leave the running of the empire to his right-hand man, Sejanus, but Sejanus has a lustful eye for Tiberius' (married) daughter-in-law, and an equally lustful eye for the throne of Rome as well. As such, he is quick to take up the series' role of "prime schemer" once Livia finally dies of old age. Unfortunately, Sejanus' schemes go awry after Claudius' mother catches wind of them and informs Tiberius about his treachery. This sets up a series of horrible events which will result in Claudius' young nephew Caligula becoming the sole heir to the imperial throne.
The mad and bloody reign of Caligula, which starts out promising enough, with the death of the hated tyrant Tiberius (at Caligula's hands.) Unfortunately, Caligula turns out to be an even WORSE ruler than Tiberius, due in no small part to the fact that Caligula was (probably) a paranoid schizophrenic who believed himself to be a reincarnation of the Roman god, Jove. He then sets about murdering all of his political and familial rivals, but he spares Claudius (whom he thinks an amusing fool, and a reincarnation of the god, Vulcan.) Caligula's outrageous crimes can't remain unpunished forever and the assassination plot which topples him almost consumes Claudius as well— thankfully, the remnants of Caligula's personal guard find Claudius and decide to prop him up as emperor. (After all, without an emperor, they'd all be out of a job.) Claudius, however, is not so hot about the idea...
Claudius' reign and death in AD 54. The last part of the series covers the 15 years of Claudius' reign as emperor, which, sadly, were no less free of death and intrigue than the rest of his life had been. Making things worse was the fact that Claudius married two scheming women (one of whom he had to execute when she "married" someone else and plotted with that person to seize the Imperial throne). Claudius, believing that emperors were a bad idea and that Rome should become a republic, tried to make this come to pass with a Zany Scheme in which his birth son Britannicus would go into hiding for a while. Claudius would then make his adopted son— the slimy Nero— emperor after his death. Nero's rule would be so oppressive that the people of Rome would overthrow him, at which point, Britannicus could come out of hiding and set up a republic. Unfortunately Britannicus hadn't seen the rest of the series up to this point and so he refused to go along with the plan, naively— some might say, suicidally— believing that he could take power in Rome and rule in his own right. (Of course, he was immediately poisoned right after Claudius' death, thus setting Nero up as emperor and... well... the rest was history.)
This British series is probably one of the best dramas ever produced for television, starring loads of famous actors (among them Patrick Stewart— Jean-Luc Picard himself— as the shifty Roman general Sejanus). John Hurt puts in a good turn as the giggly-insane Caligula, BRIAN BLESSED plays a rather tragically naive (but still hammy) Emperor Augustus, but it is Sian Phillips who steals the show as the scheming Livia, a character who is as deft at cutting people down with her dry wit as she is at poisoning them. George Baker's in it too. And let's not forget Derek Jacobi's breakout performance as the poignant Claudius, a man who— even after he gets the reins of power firmly in his hands— finds he can do very little to stop the whirlwind of death and corruption which threatens to destroy those he loves. Par for the course of a BBC series, it's done entirely without music except for its opening and ending score, relying on the actors' performances to convey mood.It is occasionally pronounced ironically by British viewers as written— "I, Clavdivs". (the eponymous American production company Belisarivs suffers from a similar conceit of grandeur).HBO and BBC have announced a new miniseries adaptation.
Actually Pretty Funny: Caligula's habit of giving his guards silly passcodes for the night, such as "Give Us A Kiss" or "Tickle Me Titus." Granted, the guards aren't that amused, but Claudius seems to be.
Adaptation Explanation Extrication: John Rhys-Davies' character, Macro, plays a key role in the downfall of Sejanus and accession of Caligula, and then disappears without explanation. In the book, Caligula soon got suspicious of him (probably correctly, for once) and poisoned him.
Alas, Poor Villain: Livia and Sejanus, in spite of their crimes, become figures of sympathy in their final moments. Livia, who's destroyed countless lives to ascend to godhood, is reduced to a pitiable old woman on her death bed whom the main character (whose father, brother and friend she's either killed or admitted to having planned to kill) can't help feeling sorry for. Sejanus has slandered and murdered decent people in his quest for power, but after seeing what happened to his kids, you can't help feeling bad for him when Macro says of his children, "They've gone on ahead of you, my friend. Like a good many others," before ordering the guards to kill him.
All Jews Are Ashkenazi: Averted with Herod but the innkeeper, whom Claudius and Herod pay to try and hide Martina the Poisoner, speaks with a heavy Yiddish accent.*
Though this is arguably Translation Convention—translating the innkeeper's period-Jewish accent (Latin as spoken by a native Aramaic speaker) into a modern equivalent, just as the low-class Roman soldiers are depicted as cockneys. The aristocratic Herod, who grew up in Rome, speaks Latin and Greek like a native.
Arranged Marriage: More the rule than the exception, as the children are married off young for political reasons (in particular, marrying Livia's descendants to Augustus's). Most of these end badly, but then, there aren't many happy marriages in this story. (Augustus/Livia was a love-match, and it doesn't end well. And some of the arranged marriages—like Drusus/Antonia and Germanicus/Aggrippina—are happy ones.)
Awesome Moment of Crowning: Subverted with the least awesome crowning in history, as the Praetorian Guard, rampaging through the palace after the murder of Caligula, finds Claudius literally hiding behind a curtain. They immediately proclaim him emperor, his protests of "I don't want to be an emperor! I w-w-want a rep-p-public!" notwithstanding. Apparently this was basically how it went down in Real Life.
Balancing Death's Books: Invoked by Caligula. During an illness that would end up with Caligula believing he was transformed into a god, a sycophantic senator announced to all who would listen that he begged to the gods to take his life if it would spare Caligula's. Caligula got better, and then told the senator he wouldn't allow him to commit perjury by refusing to keep his vow.
Based on a True Story: Yes and no. Most everything in the series, including the really outrageous stuff like Livia poisoning half her family or Messalina having a sexathon, comes from ancient primary sources. However, modern scholars consider much of that to be ancient rumormongering and/or propaganda.
Berserk Button: Mention Agrippina's name around Tiberius and he'll want to murder everything in sight. (Sejanus was able to press this button whenever he wanted to get rid of a political enemy who might have had even the loosest connection to her.)
Brother-Sister Incest: Caligula and Drusilla. "And you know how I love my sisters..."
Incest Subtext: Tiberius and Drusus in the bath together, naked.
Cadre Of Foreign Bodyguards: One of the difficulties faced in assassinating Caligula is the large contingent of German guards he has around him. He apparently didn't trust his native-born Praetorian Guard and military officers very much (with good reason, as it turned out.)
Livia: "Well you never know, one day some fool of a slave will get the bowls mixed up."
Cassandra Truth: Postumus figures out Livia's whole plan, but by then he's been framed for rape and Augustus declares it to only be an attempt at an insanity plea.
The part about Varus is probably Truth in Television: according to his biographer Suetonius*
notorious for repeating any good story he heard, however improbable; however, he had access to Augustus's private papers and that particular biography is generally seen as pretty reliable by modern historians
, Augustus had quite the Heroic BSOD upon hearing that Varus had gotten his entire command massacred, and for months afterward would bang his head against the wall and yell "Varus! Give me back my legions!"
Also Tiberius:
Bring me a VINE BRANCH!!! This Queen needs flogging before she goes!!
Augustus is a boisterous friendly chap who wants the best for Rome but is somewhat naive and prone to explosions of anger when he is wronged.
Tiberius is a puppet of his mother Livia. He initially wants to be emperor, but by the time he gets his wish and Livia dies, he no longer cares about power and retires to a life of sexual excess and perversion.
Deadpan Snarker: Almost everyone gets at least one or two lines of delicious dialogue. (Livia tends to get the most and the best ones.)
Augustus: Ah, not slept [with Augustus' libertine daughter]... You mean it happened standing up perhaps, or in the street or on a bench? Not slept?
Tiberius: Has it ever occurred to you, mother, that it's you they hate and not me? Livia: There is nothing in this world that occurs to you that does not occur to me first. That is the affliction I live with.
Mnester: My name is Mnester. I'm an actor; most people have heard of me. Scylla: My name's Scylla, and I'm a whore. Everyone's heard of me.
Defiled Forever: Lollia commits suicide in front of her husband and friends after being defiled by the emperor Tiberius.
Delayed Narrator Introduction: It's around three episodes before the narrator is even born, although it's explicitly a story told by Claudius from the beginning.
Augustus. Say what you will about BRIAN BLESSED but the way he conveys Augustus's death just by letting his face go still was a fine piece of acting.
Lollia as well.
Dirty Old Man: Tiberius. Do NOT go to his villa in Capri.
Dramatic Irony: Caligula saying "Why am I so unlucky today?" on January 24, 41 AD, as he plays dice at the games with Claudius.
Driven to Suicide: Antonia, Claudius's mother, who has grown weary of the corruption and violence engulfing Rome. However, unlike most examples of this trope, she's very matter-of-fact about it.
As horrible as Livia was, even she was disgusted to learn that Caligula had murdered his own father. And she felt genuinely bad about murdering Augustus.
The look on Sejanus' face when Caligula brings his Great-Uncle Tiberius a scroll of perverted drawings as a gift speaks volumes about his private opinion of his Emperor and Caligula.
Even Tiberius gets one while talking to Caligula.
Tiberius: And do you know him [Macro, second in command of the guard] personally?
Caligula: No, but I've slept with his wife several times.
Tiberius: And is deception with the wife regarded these days as a sound introduction to the husband?
Evil Albino: A combination of John Hurt's naturally pasty skin and a blonde wig makes Caligula into one.
Evil Laugh: Livia gets an epic one at the end of "Poison is Queen". Starts here.
Evil Matriarch: And how. Livia bumped off at least half a dozen of her own family members— and those who remained alive were usually made quite miserable by her.
Agrippinilla also qualifies.
Finish Him!: Livilla says exactly this at the gladiator games in "What Shall We Do About Claudius?".
Sejanus: (About Germanicus) Well if he's profoundly loved, he's also profoundly dead. Everybody's loved when they're dead. Livia: I wouldn't count on that if I were you.
Also, after hearing a prophecy that Claudius will become protector of Rome, young Livilla hopes aloud that she'll be dead by the time it happens. Her mother, in response, angrily sends her to bed without supper. This not only foreshadows the fact that Livilla will die before Claudius becomes emperor, but also her method of execution— Her mother locks her up in her room and forcibly starves her to death.
Foregone Conclusion: We are told at the start that Claudius is going to become Emperor. Nonetheless, the description of 60 years of Roman politics and intrigue leading up to this event manages to remain amazing and entertaining.
Friendly Address Privileges: Castor, the nickname by which Drusus Julius Caesar is commonly known, invokes this with Sejanus in "Some Justice".
Sejanus Ah, Castor, how nice to see you.
Castor I'm Castor to my friends, Sejanus.
From My Own Personal Garden: Augustus treats his stomach ailments with figs he grew himself. This backfires.
Gilligan Cut: At the beginning of "Hail Who?", Caligula has asked Claudius to take the money at the door of the brothel he has set up in the Imperial palace; Claudius categorically states that he wants nothing to do with the enterprise. Cut to the next scene, in which Claudius is taking money from a customer at the brothel.
"And his sister Drusilla's become a goddess. Any questions?"
Played with by Livia: In her mind, she needs to be declared a goddess, since all the horrible things she's done have guaranteed her to an eternity of punishment in the Afterlife. Unless she's promoted to goddess, of course. You almost pity her when Caligula sneeringly denies her dying wish. On her deathbed, no less. Sian Phillips is a really, really good actress.
The Good Chancellor: Claudius' freemen, especially Narcissus. They might or might not count as evil (they were ruthlessly protective of their man, after all), but they were loyal to Claudius.
Have You Told Anyone Else?: Played with. Pallas asks this of Justus after Justus informs him of Messalina's adulteries. It turns out that, unlike the way this trope usually plays out, Justus has told someone else, and that is what dooms him. He told his commanding officer, who happens to be one of Messalina's intimates. Messalina has him executed.
Historical Hero Upgrade: While Claudius wasn't quite the idiotic Jerk Ass that contemporary historians portrayed him as, he probably wasn't quite as cuddly as Derek Jacobi's portrayal either.
Of course, the books' (and show's) conceit is that it's Claudius's secret memoir. Not surprising he comes off well. Read between the lines, and basically his story is: He let his wives and freedmen manipulate him, he judicially murdered lots of people (including some close relatives) on the flimsiest of evidence, he handed Rome over to a psychotic—but he meant well!
Also Augustus. He's a borderline Bumbling Dad, which is very much at odds with his generally agreed status as a cold Magnificent Bastard. There's a bit of justification in that the series is showing him in private life, and after he's solidifeid his grasp on power, but it's noticeable that he's completely taken advantage of by Livia, not in Unholy Matrimony with her, which would be much more in line with his reputation.
Historical In-Joke: Don't worry about that Jewish messiah, that's going nowhere.
Historical Villain Upgrade: Somewhat justified, as the author was using contemporary accounts that were all slanted to gain favor with various Emperors.
Caligula is the most obvious example of this. The historical Caligula comes across as a neurotic, insecure and cruel young man who was a product of both his difficult background and mental illness, probably brought on by the considerable pressures of office. The Caligula portrayed in I, Claudius, however, is basically just evil from the word go. Some of the worst things he does in the TV series, such as the horrible murder of his sister and making his horse a senator, are straight-up fiction.
In all likelihood, the real Livia was not a scheming mastermind and never poisoned anyone.
I Did What I Had to Do: Livia ruthlessly manipulates and kills family members and anyone else close to them to ensure her son becomes emperor and Rome does not return to being a Republic, convinced this is the only way for the city to remain great.
I Made Copies: Nero and Agrippinilla burn Claudius's book. He already had it copied and buried.
How infinite is this? It has some power to fracture the Fourth Wall - the whole series is uploaded to YouTube with Russian fan subtitles. The subtitles are of professional quality, never turning to Fun with Subtitles. However, the aforementioned incident with Caligula happens right before the end of the episode. As the credits start to roll, words "Horrific, wasn't it?" appear on the screen.
Impairment Shot: The last thing that poor Castor sees as he's dying is his wife Livilla and Sejanus, who conspired to poison him, embracing.
Insane Equals Violent: Manages to subvert this despite featuring the actual Caligula. His violent / psychopathic tendencies are explicitly shown NOT to follow from his psychotic delusions: he's a killer from childhood, but doesn't go mad until after he becomes Emperor years later. Livia and other murderous characters are described as "mad" by other characters, but are not shown as irrational - even Nero, explicitly called "as mad as... Caligula", is clearly nothing of the kind.
Insult to Rocks: Claudius' mother, Antonia, manages to make this one do double duty, by finding something a moment later that she thinks is a sufficiently insulting comparison.
Antonia : That man [a senator] ought to be put out of the way! He's as stupid as a donkey—what am I saying? Donkeys are sensible beings by comparison—he's as stupid as... as... Heavens, he's as stupid as my son Claudius!
I See Dead People: In "Old King Log", Claudius sees his dead family members (including his predecessors as Emperor), looking as they did in their youth, walk up to him and address him one by one, a sign that his own death is near. The scene cuts back to the Senate to show that Claudius alone can see these visions.
Augustus: Well done, Claudius! Emperor after all! Who would have thought it, eh? (smiles, and walks off) Livia: You're a fool, boy. You always were. People say it's not your fault, but if it's not your fault, whose fault is it, eh? (tuts, and walks off) Antonia: And your nose is still running, Claudius. It's still running. (Caligula walks up behind her and taps her on the shoulder) Excuse me. (she leaves) Caligula: Uncle- Tiberius:(motioning Caligula away) Just a minute. Just wait your turn. (he waves a hand in front of Claudius' face as Caligula rolls his eyes) (scene cuts to the Senate to reveal two senators standing where Tiberius and Caligula are in Claudius' vision) Senator:(waves his hand in front of Claudius' face) Shall a doctor be brought? (scene cuts back to Claudius' vision of Tiberius and Caligula) Tiberius: Wasn't worth it, was it? I could have told you that. Caligula: Uncle Claudius, I wasn't that Messiah after all. Would you believe it? You could have knocked me over with a feather when they told me...
It Amused Me: Caligula has some shades of this - he does things like set up the young, beautiful Messalina with unattractive Claudius because he thinks it's funny.
Jerkass Has a Point: Livia does a lot of horrible things, but she points out that if she hadn't interfered, the empire could very well have been plunged into civil war again.
Just the First Citizen: According to the "memoir", Claudius followed Augustus' example to an extent, only taking on further titles as they were earned (i.e. not calling himself imperator until he commanded troops. Even Caligula started like this, before the whole A God Am I thing).
Though technically, until he won a battle, he would have been titled dux, not imperator. A dux was a leader who had not yet won a battle; as soon as they won a battle, they became an imperator. Seeing as this is based of Roman texts, his being called imperator is actually a rather important point; it shows that not only is he a leader, he is actually somewhat successful.
Killed Mid-Sentence: Messalina is executed halfway through a plea not to be beheaded.
(as one guard grabs her hair and another swings his sword back)Not my head! Not my-(thunk)
Linear Edit: The series was entirely shot on videotape, using multiple cameras, one scene at a time. This resulted in a very theatrical look to the performances, which suited the story very well.
Lonely at the Top: Claudius learns this the hard way after being forced to execute Messalina. When Claudius sees all the important people in his life, Tiberius's ghost flat out tells him "Wasn't worth it was it?", showing that Tiberius also felt that way.
Long Game: Claudius writes and buries his memoirs for the specific purpose of having them discovered "nineteen hundred years or near" later, as the Sybil said they would be.
Loophole Abuse: When Sejanus and his supporters are being eliminated, guards are sent to kill his children. They're understandably iffy about doing so, and one of them even protests that the daughter is a virgin; executing a virgin is unprecedented and could bring bad luck on the city. Macro's solution? Rape her,then kill her. Her brother is also underage, but they dress him up in his coming of age robes so he's legally a man - then they kill him too.
Messalina has Claudius wrapped around her little finger, and uses his adoration of her to pursue a long string of sexual conquests while he suspects nothing.
Livia, more than anyone else.
Sejanus does a pretty good job manipulating himself and his family into positions of power, even convincing Claudius to marry his sister.
Master Poisoner: Livia, Agrippina, Martina (who met her match with Livia) and Livilla, who willingly fed poison to both a husband and a daughter.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Did all the signs and prophecies mentioned in the series really come true, or were they just coincidences? Did Claudius really see the Sibyl on his deathbed or was it just a Dying Dream? Did Herod die a horrible death because he tried to set himself up as a god and the real God struck him down, or was that just a coincidence? The narrative seems to imply that supernatural forces might have been at work within the story, (and many of the characters were dead certain of it, at least.)
Modesty Bedsheet: Averted in that nudity on the part of the female actors was allowed— a shocking thing to see on network TV at this point in time, at least in America.
Mood Whiplash: "Some Justice" opens with Claudius relaxing at a party with his friends—until Lollia, the hostess, relates how Tiberius defiled her, then kills herself in front of her guests.
My Beloved Smother: Livia to Tiberius. When he can finally shove her out of power, he does so happily.
Nobody Poops: Averted - Claudius jerks out of a dream that he fell into whilst pooping.
Not so Above It All: A darker version of this trope: Claudius thinks he can remain separate from the murderous schemes absorbing his family. Unfortunately, when Claudius himself comes to power, he finds he must get his own hands dirty in order to survive.
Obfuscating Disability: Claudius exaggerated his stutter, limp and general clumsiness. This barely kept him alive when he had to work for The Caligula.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Claudius found playing the fool to be a necessary survival tactic in a family where anyone with even an ounce of ambition would wind up brutally slaughtered. He was good enough at this that arch-schemer Livia only picked up on this being obfuscation quite late in life.
Tiberius: (to Livia) That grandson of yours could wreck the empire just by strolling through it.
Offing the Offspring: Livia's exploits in this trope are well-known, but her granddaughter Livilla also tried killing her daughter Helen (when she perceived the child as a threat to her marriage plans.) Once the plot to kill Helen and overthrow the emperor was discovered, Livilla was then forcibly starved to death by her mother, Antonia.
Opinion Flipflop: Most everyone behaves like this with Caligula, desperately trying to humor him so he doesn't kill them next.
Parental Incest: In a scene deleted from the American version of the series, Agrippinilla— another of Caligula's sisters— uses sex to keep her son Nero in line. It doesn't work and he eventually has her murdered.
The Plan: Livia puts her son Tiberius on the throne using some truly devious political maneuvering, along with generous amounts of poison.
Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Too many times to count. Notably, Claudius and Caesonia manage to talk Caligula out of murdering the Senate by appealing to his ego.
P.O.V. Cam: Several instances, usually for a character's final moments.
After Sejanus is arrested, Macro entering his cell and ordering his execution is seen from Sejanus' POV.
When Cassius prepares to finish off Caligula, shouting, "This from our wives, Jove!", he is seen from Caligula's POV.
For Messalina's execution, the camera cuts to her POV as soon as her head is severed, the room spinning past her eyes.
Praetorian Guard: The original one plays a major role, putting Claudius on the imperial throne.
Properly Paranoid: Claudius is convinced his (last) wife is trying to poison him. Oh, wait. She is.
Prophecies Are Always Right: Three prophecies are mentioned during the series: that Rome would be placed in Claudius' hands in the hour of need, that Claudius' memoirs would be discovered after nineteen hundred years, and that the Messiah would be born on Livia's birthday. The first two come true, and it's heavily implied that so did the third.
The Purge: Sejanus embarks upon a carefully planned campaign to imprison and destroy Agrippina, her children and supporters in order to pave his way to the Imperial throne. Once his plan is discovered by the Emperor, Sejanus himself becomes the victim of a purge, which consumes his family and supporters.
Pyrrhic Villainy: By the time Claudius becomes emperor, there are practically no villains of the piece left. All their plots and schemes have achieved nothing in the end.
The page quote is from a speech Claudius delivers to the senate when they refuse to recognize him as emperor, and he agrees with them, but he can't help pointing out that the senate spinelessly handed over power in the past and it wouldn't be unlikely for them to do it again, even though he's fully in support of them restoring the Roman republic.
Narcissus delivers one to Messalina when her many adulteries and bigamous marriage to Silius are exposed to Claudius.
Red Right Hand: Inverted, since the limping, twitching, stammering Claudius is portrayed as one of the few decent people in the entire family, and most of his able-bodied relatives are unstable, scheming, murdering bastards.
First with Caligula's attempted abortion on his sister's baby where we only see a bit of blood around Caligula's face when he leaves the room and Claudius' reaction to what he sees.
When Macro orders the rape of Sejanus' daughter, which we never see but only hear her scream.
Seppuku: What Roman Generals (like Quinctilius Varus of the "WHERE ARE MY EAGLES!" fame) were expected to do after losing battles. Another form of ritual suicide (by opening a vein) was also available to people facing political disgrace, or to people who had simply grown tired of life. In general, an honorable death-by-suicide could save everyone a lot of trouble—for example, a condemned traitor would usually forfeit his property, leaving his family destitute. (Of course, when doing this, it's always handy to have one's treacherous wife standing by to gut-stab you should you chicken out at the last minute...)
Face Death with Dignity: When Claudius's freedman trick him into signing Messalina's death-warrant, they make sure to offer Messalina a dagger—to take the honourable way out—in the hopes that they won't have to show the warrant to Claudius. Similarly, when Augustus banishes his daughter Julia for adultery, Julia accepts exile but her maid Phoebe hangs herself in disgrace; Augustus bitterly comments, "I wish to God I had been Phoebe's father."
Springtime for Hitler: When seeking favor from Caligula, do not tell him you've offered your life to the gods in place of his if he gets sick. He may decide to take you at your word when he recovers.
Stealth Insult: Claudius sometimes engages in these around Caligula, who is generally too vain to notice them.
When Caligula asks Claudius if he thinks he is mad, Claudius answers, "Mad? Why your majesty, you set the standard of sanity for the entire world!"
When Caligula asks Claudius if he liked his bizarre dance performance, Claudius replies, "It was indescribable!"
Take Me Instead: When Caligula falls ill, some of his subjects make grandiose public announcements that if Death spares the Emperor, they'll kill themselves in his place. Later, when Caligula gets better, he forces them all to follow through on it.
Tangled Family Tree: An example of Truth in Television; the convoluted relationships (both through blood and through marriage) between all the Julio-Claudians were so complex that a copy of the Julio-Claudian family tree was included in the DVD box-set, available to consult when they watched this series.
Not to mention adoption! note Augustus was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. Tiberius was the adopted son of Augustus. Nero was the adopted son of Claudius. At this point in Roman history, if one senator had two sons and his friend had none, it was expected that one of those sons would get adopted by the childless senator to keep his family name alive. One particularly unscrupulous politician in the days of the Republic had himself adopted by a man younger than he was, just to qualify himself to run for a particular office!
Terrible Ticking: Caligula goes mad partly due to the sounds of running horses which only he can hear. Caligula himself claims that, as a god, he hears many things that keep him from sleeping, and that's one reason he acts so strangely.
This Bed of Rose's: Claudius often stays with a friendly hooker named Calpurnia.
Too Dumb to Live: Messalina's mother warns Messalina that she is risking her own life. Mom is right.
Translation Convention: Aristocratic Romans, and foreign aristocrats who would speak Latin or Greek fluently*
as aristocratic Romans of this era would be quite likely to speak Greek, not Latin, on social occasions
, speak with an upper-class BBC accent (most of the cast, naturally). Lower-class Romans—mainly soldiers and the lower kinds of slaves—speak with lower-class English accents (generally Cockney); foreigners sometimes have corresponding accents (as, for example, a Jewish innkeeper with a very modern Yiddish accent).
Traumatic C-Section: Caligula cutting out and eating his and Drusilla's incest baby.
True Companions: Inverted. Claudius starts at the centre of a network of close friends. As the series progresses, this group dwindles— as characters either die or are exiled— until only Claudius remains.
Unfortunate Name: Postumus, whose name is phonetically identical to "posthumous" aka "after-death". Intentional, historically, the character was born after his father had died and hence was a "posthumous" son. Also fitting, considering his eventual fate.
Sejanus has one when the letter from Tiberius turns into a denunciation and arrest order. We can practically see the colour draining from his face as the letter unfolds.
Messalina suffers a double breakdown after she's arrested - first, when Narcissus tells her that Claudius doesn't wish to see her and orders her taken away, and second, when Geta produces her execution warrant with Claudius' signature.
What Happened to the Mouse?: We don't hear about the fate of Claudius' son from his first marriage, or what happened to Helen after her mother, Livilla, attempted to poison her.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: When Livia's not conspiring to get Tiberius onto the throne, she's this, taking care of Augustus's follies in order to preserve the peace of Rome.
with Charles Laughton in the role of Claudius, but for various reasons the movie was never completed. When The BBC decided to make their own version they had to negotiate with Korda's production company over screen rights to the story.
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