HBO and the BBC to team up for I, CLAUDIUS remake

HBO and the BBC have decided to join forces once again to head to Ancient Rome. In 2005-07, the two companies joined forces to produce two seasons of the epic series Rome, which charted the rise and fall of Julius Caesar and the aftermath of his assassination from the point-of-view of two ordinary legionaries. The series was critically acclaimed, but cancelled after two seasons due to concerns over the astronomical budget. Later, HBO admitted that this decision may have been premature in the face of extremely profitable DVD sales, and there have been several attempts since to mount a Rome movie.


HBO and the BBC are now putting into development a fresh television version of I, Claudius, based on Robert Graves' highly successful duology (I, Claudius and Claudius the God). The BBC produced a legendary 13-part mini-series in 1976 which won multiple Emmy Awards and other awards and featured career-establishing roles for Derek Jacobi, Patrick Stewart and Brian Blessed. The new adaptation will apparently focus more on the novels (the 1976 series had to drop a lot of elements from the books for time reasons) than the previous TV version.


The new series is being produced by several people involved with Rome (though notably not the important creative producers, John Milius and Bruno Heller). There is no word on if it will use the elaborate outdoor steps created for Rome, which are still standing in Italy (though part of them was damaged in a fire a couple of years back), or will move to a cheaper filming location.

This is going to be controversial - the BBC mini-series is considered one of the greatest series the BBC has ever produced - but I think valid. The original series, amazing as it was, was somewhat compressed. The new series (which I assume will be at least two seasons, to focus everything in) should be able to restore those elements under-emphasised in the original. But they're going to have to pull out all the stops to match the cast and performances of the original, which remain superlative thirty-five years on.