The Cleopatras

A decent script suffers from truly awful production values and lousy editing. The cheap, pasteboard sets (often merely a sound stage with curtains or lighting filling in for walls) the lousy sound (lots of stage echoes), and questionable costume choices (no, they did not dress like ancient Egyptian tomb paintings) all combine to undermine what is, by itself, a fascinating romp among some of history's most ruthless royals: the ever-murderous Ptolemies of Egypt. The acting is uneven and pales when compared to the much superior I, Claudius, of which this farce was obviously intended to mimic. If the viewer can overlook the choppy editing and poor production standards, the story itself becomes quite entertaining. I would love to see this series done better. At least the idea was sound---an Egyptian version of I, Claudius---but it's a shame the BBC put so little faith or investment into it.