Season 1 • Episode 6
LatestThe Caesars is a British television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network in 1968. Made in black-and-white and written and produced by Philip Mackie, it covered similar dramatic territory to the later BBC adaptation of I, Claudius, dealing with the lives of the early emperors of Ancient Rome, but differed in its less sensationalist depictions of historical characters and their motives.
Acting
Freddie Jones's Claudius: pathetic, cunning, unforgettable.
Writing
Mackie's dialogue — less soap, more surgical.
Production
Black-and-white austerity = historical dread.
Creator
Philip Mackie
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mackie wrote this AFTER being rejected to adapt I, Claudius — pure spite-driven art.
Granada's austerity vs. BBC's 1976 excess = Thatcherism vs. excess before Thatcher existed.
GB
