Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire is a 2006 BBC One docudrama series, with each episode looking at a different key turning point in the history of the Roman Empire. Series Producer Mark Hedgecoe has stated that he made the series in response to previous films that, have tended to ignore the real history and chosen to fictionalise the story. The series was produced in co-production with ZDF and the Discovery Channel. BBC History commiss... more

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire is a 2006 BBC One docudrama series, with each episode looking at a different key turning point in the history of the Roman Empire. Series Producer Mark Hedgecoe has stated that he made the series in response to previous films that, have tended to ignore the real history and chosen to fictionalise the story. The series was produced in co-production with ZDF and the Discovery Channel. BBC History commissioned the online-game CDX to tie-in with the series. Historical novelist Lindsey Davis writing in The Times points out that "the episodes were produced by different teams" and "it shows," stating episodes 3 and 4 work better than episodes 1, 2, and 5 and although she hasn't seen the final episode, she wants to watch it and she "can’t say fairer than that." She compliments the producers who "avoid the talking-heads style, though they use literature and the advice of modern historians," but criticises the series in that "once they fill up with... less