I, Claudius
Poison is Queen
TV Flash files “Poison is Queen” as a desk essential hour — I, Claudius (1976) on BBC / PBS, season 1, episode 5, aired 1976-10-11, 50 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E05: listed hour 5 of 13 in the I, Claudius guide, hour 5 of 13 in season 1. It aired 1976-10-11 (50 min). The listed hour before it is “What Shall We Do About Claudius?” (S01E04). Next is “Some Justice” (S01E06).
Essential hour: “Poison is Queen”. Poison is Queen is the thesis on the card. Imperial gossip as craft: studio-bound Rome still more dangerous than a location epic, the palace still a soap with better Latin.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The Imperial Army on the Rhine has been wiped out and Tiberius sent to avenge the defeat.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Poison is Queen sit in the I, Claudius guide?
S01E05 is listed hour 5 of 13 — hour 5 of 13 in season 1, season 1 episode 5.
When did I, Claudius S01E05 air?
Poison is Queen aired 1976-10-11 and is listed at 50 minutes.
Do I need Robert Graves first?
No. Pulman's BBC serial is the palace thriller. The novels are source cousins; Jacobi's Claudius is the television weapon.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Derek Jacobi stammers through Graves' Rome while poison, incest, and imperial gossip do the weekly work of a prestige soap. BBC studio rooms that somehow feel like power. Talky history gone vicious, with a stammer as the sharpest weapon in the palace and no battle extras required.
Picture a BBC studio room that somehow feels like an empire. 1976: stammering historian Claudius narrates the murderous rise and fall of Rome's early emperors in a close-quarters palace thriller. I, Claudius, adapted by Jack Pulman from Robert Graves' novels for BBC and PBS, makes Derek Jacobi's stammer the sharpest weapon in the palace. Siân Phillips's Livia, John Hurt's Caligula, Brian Blessed's Augustus, Patrick Stewart's Sejanus — a who's-who of later film and TV legends filling a prestige soap of poison,…
Filed against
- Derek Jacobi as Claudius
Derek Jacobi’s Claudius stammered through I, Claudius as the sharpest weapon in the palace — Graves’ Rome, poison, incest, imperial gossip doing the weekly work of a prestige soap. BBC studio rooms that somehow feel like power. TV Flash…
- Siân Phillips as Livia
Siân Phillips poisoned I, Claudius as Livia — BBC studio rooms that somehow feel like imperial power, Graves' Rome as prestige soap, talky history gone vicious. Derek Jacobi's stammer as a weapon; her stillness as the sharper one. TV…
- John Hurt as Caligula
John Hurt’s Caligula made I, Claudius vicious in a studio room — Derek Jacobi stammering through Graves’ Rome while poison, incest, and imperial gossip do the weekly work of a prestige soap. Talky history gone mean, no battle extras…
- Brian Blessed as Augustus
Brian Blessed thundered as Augustus on I, Claudius — BBC studio Rome where poison, incest, and imperial gossip did the weekly work of a prestige soap. Derek Jacobi stammered through Graves; Blessed filled the palace with a voice that…
- Patrick Stewart as Sejanus
Patrick Stewart’s Sejanus hissed through I, Claudius’s palace poison — BBC studio rooms that feel like power, Jacobi’s stammer as the sharpest weapon — then made Picard’s quiet authority the philosophical teeth of Star Trek: The Next…