First viewed : February 1983
This one isn't quite as notorious as The Borgias but it was the final nail in the coffin as far as attempts to replicate the success of I Claudius went.
The Cleopatras followed the fortunes of the successive queens of that name in the Ptolemaic dynasty from 145 BC until the last and most famous bearer of that name had her fatal encounter with a snake in 36 BC. However , any thoughts that this might make for great feminist viewing were quickly dispelled by the sheer number of bare breasts ( mainly those of dancers or uncredited extras ) on display. If the script was to be believed , most of the men in ancient Egypt were actually tits too so you had an orgy of nipples to look at until the Romans arrived and took over.
The sets looked like left overs from a Dr Who story and writer Philip Mackie decided to couch the dialogue in everyday language which ( along with not casting any venerable Egyptian actors who couldn't speak English intelligibly ) at least allowed you to follow the plot although it did give rise to some bathetic moments. It's hard to think Julius Caesar ever said anything that translated as "Oh these Egyptians are getting me down".
Robert Hardy actually played Caesar very well, capturing the monstrous ego of the man perfectly and Richard Griffiths added to his growing reputation as the grotesque Pot Belly in the early episodes. Michelle Newell played both the most famous Cleopatra and the third and was OK although not really beautiful enough to account for her illustrious conquests, especially when surrounded by such an abundance of alternative crumpet.
The critics were pretty unkind to it , disliking the campy approach to history, and the Beeb have chosen to bury it although someone has generously uploaded the entire series from their VCR tapes to YouTube.
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