What a wonderful mini-series! A really excellent use of television to apply the time necessary to do justice to a good book (in this case, two books). Derek Jacobi shines as the lame, stuttering title character. But, so many fine performances abound in this treasure!<br /><br />Brian Blessed, the benevolent, cunning, and oblivious Augustus. Sian Phillips, the malevolent Livia. George Baker, the brooding and frustrated Tiberius. John Hurt, the cheerfully insane monster, Caligula.<br /><br />Look for a swaggering young Patrick Stewart, and an ambitious young John Rhyss-Davies as virile captains of the Guard.<br /><br />Terrific in DVD, which seems to have corrected the series' sound engineering problems. Only one minus: Make-up is theatrical and does not hold up well to the TV camera.<br /><br />Watch Episode 1 ... you'll be hooked for the entire thirteen hours of great this story-telling epic that was made for TV and TV was made for!