I, Claudius - Livia and Claudius

[othyization]

I like Tiberius' following line "That grandson of yours, would wreck the Empire just by strolling through it."

The series had a ton of brilliant lines anyhow and outstanding performances for the whole cast.

[grapisavillain]

They don't make actors like this anymore!

[anthonyvoneckstein18]

Derek Jacobi accomplished more in this role than most actors would achieve in a lifetime! FYI....Sean Phillips...having been married to the late-great stage and film actor Peter O'Toole always adds merit! Can you imagine those two acting 'titans' in an argument!?!?!

[actorben]

Geez!  What a bitch!

[BalkanibalX]

Amazing acting! This is it, this is how it should be done. Nothing less than a perfection

[JPPT1974]

Derek Jacobi is such a legend and a great actor!

[Kelly14UK]

Brilliant stuff. Poor guy.

[lepulverfe]

marvelous actors !! 

[Nelsonhojax15]

he's not actually an idiot, he stutters, has a twich, limps, but underneath all that, he's very intelligent, listen to what he says, not how he says it.

[3baxcb]

@Nelsonhojax15 Never expect a vain, power hungry empress like Livia to actually listen to what Claudius says. Ultimately being regarded so lowly by his own grandmother (and a Claudian as well) was what kept Claudius alive. Postumus Caesar was intelligent to rule but because he had no physical defects or ticks and a blood relative of Augustus, Livia considered him the greater threat and set him up. She never expected a lowly grandson to learn the truth while she was around.

[CompulsiveTherapy]

Lol, I love Claudius <3 XD

[LeamingtonSteve]

The Scottish version is "och aye Claudius", and the Geordie one is "Why Aye Claudius"

[QuinnnniuQ]

@tascott59 Yes! I was just thinking that!! Livia is the supreme super villain! Far better than Darth Vader or Doctor Doom, and that's something coming from me: I'm a nerd!

[3baxcb]

@QuinnnniuQ Darth Vader and Doctor Doom would be fighting each other to marry a woman like Livia. For Vader at the Emperor would approve.

[27manlover]

Brilliant!

[27twilightmoon]

if I had the same problems as claudius, I should kill myself. :(

[1laughinggravy]

This clip leaves out the next line uttered by Tiberius: "That grandson of yours could wreck the empire simply by strolling through it."

[necavuk]

Great show!

[Aussiemarco]

Derek Jacobi and Sian Phillips together in one of TV's greatest achievements. This is the stuff of legend.

[LedZep171717]

This is so funny!

[bookkeeper57]

Disabled 17 year old scholar made clumsier than usual because he is intimidated by his cold, imperious grandmother.

[riggersouldance]

@bookkeeper57

Partially he's nervous at being around his extremely powerful grandmother. Partially he's faking it. He knows full well what she's capable of and has already been warned to exaggerate his condition. Deliberately. The line from the story is something to the effect of 'if you want to die an old man, let people think you're a fool.'

Considering just how many people she poisoned, it was decent advice.

[applesky007]

I lent a box set 3 years ago and have never had it back. bentonrp. Hang your head in shame! I have to buy another now. Freeloaders are bloody annoying. Why do we lend them our stuff???. Dumb.

[ColonelSanders666]

There is a wealth of brilliant acting in this series

[dracognia]

Livia is beyond brilliant

[SATANECRONOMICUS]

id kick livia's ass. lol

Rege Satanas.

[Wellworm]

Then she'd have yours cut off and stuck on a pole.

[bentonrp]

Lighten up. It's a joke that offends no one -- How you can possibly take offense from it, I really don't know. By the way, there's this thing called traveling should look into...

[bentonrp]

This series is unbelievable! I borrowed the box set from a relative 3 years ago... I haven't returned it since! :P

[BeckEis]

Actually, if you really watch this series you begin to realize that Claudius was not quite as bad as he made himself look. Remember, his relitives were dropping dead or being banished left and right but he remained right in the thick of things, and alive, because he allowed himself to be thought of as useless. I believe one of his cousines, just before he was banished told Claudius to do this and he did.

[luisal0w]

i love the julio claudians, when i first began learning about the roman empire this helped me quite a bit understand its initial bloodlines

[piontro]

Claudius was the son Of Drusus, brother of Tiberius(the infamous emperor), Claudius was Brother of Germanicus and Uncle of the infamous Cailgula.(little boots).His grandparents were Augustus and Livia. Augustus (Octavian) Who,Was the first emperor in Roman History.Claudius was a good ruler, until he married Livilla, his niece, and mother of Nero.

[bentonrp]

Ooo!, I was about to be impressed! ... Perfect except one thing, I think. Correct me if I'm wrong, but not 'Livilla' in the last sentence, but 'Agrippina?'

[bentonrp]

It should be Agrippina in the last sentence, not Livilla.

[Dannyboy8155]

Always comes down to women, doesn't it?

[marcostar57]

Gotta hate Livia -- she is such a bitch.

[applesky007]

I lent my box set to a relative who 3 years later has not returned it. Hmmm.

[Bhamjiboy2]

Will you lend it to me when you get it back? Joke!!

[fifteenminutesfoever]

Im currently watching the I, Claudius series and i absoulutley find it fascinating. Claudius''s character intrigues me and makes me laugh sometimes too. Derek Jacobi did indeed do a wonderful job playing Claudius. Im really hooked on Roman history now :) Thaks for posting this.

[piontro]

Hey fifteenminutesfoever, I'm in the same Vibe as you are. I'm a Roman History expert myself and I love it. Good to know that is somebody in the world with the same taste.

[ClarinetMadeofSteele]

Derek Jacobi is awesome in this. His young Claudius really gets to me. I just want to huugg him!

[captainsunder009]

I know what you mean.

[fromelina]

"If that head of yours doesn't stop twitching, I'll have it off and stuck on a pole"

haha! SDJ and Sian Philips are simply amazing. This scene kills me everytime.

[frantic1971]

There's a great little bit just after the end of the video clip. Tiberius (played by George Baker) remarks "that man [Claudius] could wreck the empire merely by strolling through it in an afternoon".

[aphexcoil]

Ahhh young Claudius. No one took him seriously and his own family tried to keep him in the closet as to not embarrass them.

Yet waiting in the wings of time was one of the best emperors Rome would ever know.

[MIGUELSAGITTA]

by BBC One from TV September - Dicember 1976

[newrochellephoenix]

I love her look when Claudius runs back and trips.

[aure232]

He had good advisers, his government was mostly run by freedmans, his wives had too much power over him. I'm afraid that many ancient historians were right abouth him when they said he was merely a figurehead...

[TheLogicJunkie]

It would be great if they would re-do this series. People would love it.

[KBOH0301]

The chilling way Livia said she'd have Claudius' head off & stuck on a pole if he didn't stop that twitching makes one completely believe with no doubt she'd really do it! Sian Phillips as Livia was perfect!

[Wacek4444]

Damn, I just love Sian Philips! She's the ultimate Livia. Every scene, every word, pure class.

[Spinningwheel07]

Sir Derek Jacobi is one of the most brilliant actors I have seen in my lifetime.

[AdArmand]

would anyone be interested in seeing clips of Sian Phillips playing famed actress Mrs Patrick Campell in a series about Winston Churchill's mother? She plays another quite crafty manipulative lady, but in that instance uses her femininity to get what she wants. Its a VERY different performance to Livia, but just as fascinating, if brief. "Jennie" is virtually impossible to get hold of.

[tashamia]

he is too cute. amazing that the one everyone thought was nothing more than a stuttering idiot ended up outliving a vast majority of them.shows just how truly intelligent claudius was.

[captain07234]

Not a vast majority, all. And the ultimate irony of the whole thing was that while they killed and manipulated to the throne it was handed to Claudius, who didn't even want it.

[bookishmuch]

that's the point of the book!

[captain07234]

I know I read it, or both of them. I wish I knew more about the history, it's presented in such a plausible way that it could be true.

[bookkeeper57]

Because Claudius suffered from polio, scrofula and stuttered, most of his relatives assumed he was mentally impaired. Livia never

took him seriously, until just before her death.

[BlackCountryLad]

Now that.....is acting.

[cocoacorin]

I remember the scene with Agrippina as a child when she was explaining Germanicus's curse. I remember being so intrigued. I was a teen before I had the chance to see it again.

Thanks for posting this series morniexutulie

[Rothenturm]

This is awesome, Sir Derek Jacobi is just amazing as Claudius and so cute as well ;-)

[captain07234]

I remember when I first saw this, it amazed me how Claudius kept on surviving all the madness.

[dontleademsomuch]

@captain07234 yeah he was like on of the dumb and quiet types who lived though stalin's purges

[mildetryth]

Wonderful! She just knows an answer to everything! And Jocobi's so cute!

[captain07234]

Yes, and in the end you could say Claudius was smarter than she was. She never killed him or ensnared him in her manipulations.

[mildetryth]

Yep, she didn't see through his act... ^^ Does anyone have that scene with her, Claudius and Caligula? I remember that I loved the look on her face when he suddenly spoke without stuttering.

[captain07234]

I love that scene to, Livia's sudden anger and realization that someone had outsmarted her.

[mmedefarge]

She could see that he was no threat to her or her ambitions & that was sufficient. Ignoring him didn't cost her anything. I believe that he also carried out her request to be named as a goddess after she died. So in a way, she got everything that she wanted without any repercussions to herself.

[rosapurpurea]

I LOVE this scene...Sir Derek Jacobi's simply gorgeous in that part!Thank you sooo much!

[martveron]

thank you!!!