I have always been a great lover of history and the Historical fictions that Robert Graves weaved in his Claudius novels is not only some of the best novels I have ever read, it is some of the best history of have ever read, even if large portions of it are at least partially fabricated or stretched history. Graves has a very easy style of writing and his books are very readable anyway but he knows what to add and where to make the already enthralling history even more interesting to the readers.<br /><br />This miniseries is one of the best translations of a book into film or television that I have ever seen. There is very little major that is changed or removed from the story. The story is excellent and the acting is absolutely incredible. Derek Jacobi conveys Graves's Claudius perfectly in all his innocence, wisdom, foolishness, and nobility. He effects the stutter perfectly and twitches and limps incredibly convincingly. With very little makeup he looks fairly convincingly as a teenager in the brief scenes where Claudius is meant to be in his late teens. Brian Blessed is excellent as the families original patriarch, and the first master of the Roman Empire and possibly the greatest political mind of all time. He conveys the historical Augusus very well who was both amicable and good natured but also very imposing and powerful. Sian Phillips is excellent as the ultimate uncompromising matriarch whose mind alone was nearly equal to Augustus, but much more harsh and uncompromising. George Baker is excellent as the dark and brooding Tiberius who is slowly pushed into the evils which he committed later in life. John Hurt is Amazing as the psychotic Caligula. The rest of the large cast is excellent with such mentions as Patrick Stewart as the power hungry Sejanus, Patricia Quinn as Claudius's vile sister Livilla, Margaret Tyzack as Claudius's mother, and John Rys-Davies as the sadistic and violent Macro.<br /><br />I definitely recommend this to anyone who has any love for history or just great television.