A dramatized documentary on the Roman Empire, focussing in each season on one of its most famous, or infamous, emperors.
This series had some potential: a dramatized documentary on the Roman Empire - sort of The World At War meets Rome or Spartacus, right? An edifying documentary mixed with realistic, gritty, action-filled dramatizations.
Well, no. It doesn't even come close.
The documentary side is pretty basic. Sean Bean is no Laurence Olivier when it comes to narrating: he really doesn't have the gravitas or accent for it. The facts presented in the documentary are then sometimes distorted to make for better drama (though some of the original facts were interesting enough, so why change them?). So, as a documentary it is mediocre.
The drama itself is pretty bland. There's a few good action scenes but it is mostly pretty dull. Performances are at best passable and nothing more. Some of the minor actors are quite bad.
So history got rewritten for the sake of drama, and the drama largely sucks. Seems like they should have just stuck with the facts. And got a better narrator.
