Introduction

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.

This docudrama focuses on the Latin western half of the Roman Empire.

Not to be confused with Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2008).

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Outline

A doc-drama covering the rise and the fall of the Roman world including the founding by Julius Caesar and the building of Rome by Nero.

Production

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 filmed with the Panasonic SDX 900 DVCPRO50 professional camcorder in widescreen progressive scan mode at 25 frames per second. According to Mark Hedgecoe, a standard definition format was chosen largely because it was more forgiving to focusing errors and required less light than high definition, thus speeding up the shooting. In his opinion, the camera delivered better footage than a Digital Betacam camera, and provided rich, filmic feel, which was well-suited to capturing the gritty reality of the Roman Empire.

The series was co-produced by BBC, ZDF and the Discovery Channel.

BBC History commissioned the online-game CDX to tie-in with the series.

Trivia

• When the series was broadcast on the Discovery Channel as Battle for Rome, from 05 November 2006 onwards, the episodes were broadcast in their chronological order (i.e. Gracchus, then Caesar, then Nero, then as BBC order).
• During the series, Carthaginian costumes were cut up and turned into those of Germanic warriors.
• To give the accurate feel of the locations for the six stories, the series was shot in three countries – Bulgaria, Morocco and Tunisia.
• The series also filmed on Ridley Scott’s Kingdom Of Heaven (2005) set in Morocco. It was used to recreate ancient Jerusalem.

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire Series

• Episode 01: Caesar.
• Episode 02: Nero.
• Episode 03: Rebellion.
• Episode 04: Revolution.
• Episode 05: Constantine.
• Episode 06: The Fall of Rome.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Tim Dunn … (1 episode, 2006).
  • Nick Green … (1 episode, 2006).
  • Andrew Grieve … (1 episode, 2006).
  • Nick Murphy … (1 episode, 2006).
  • Arif Nurmohamed … (1 episode, 2006).
  • Christopher Spencer … (1 episode, 2006).
• Producer(s):
  • Alexander Emmert … producer (6 episodes, 2006).
  • Mark Hedgecoe … producer (5 episodes, 2006).
  • Matthew Barrett … executive producer (4 episodes, 2006).
  • Jim Spencer … line producer (2 episodes, 2006).
  • Tim Dunn … producer (1 episode, 2006).
  • Gina Marsh … line producer (1 episode, 2006).
  • Nick Murphy … producer (1 episode, 2006).
  • Arif Nurmohamed … producer (1 episode, 2006).
  • Christopher Spencer … producer (1 episode, 2006).
  • Josh Wilkins … assistant producer (1 episode, 2006).
• Writer(s):
  • Alexander Emmert … (6 episodes, 2006).
  • Andrew Grieve … (writer) (1 episode, 2006).
  • Colin Heber-Percy … (writer) (1 episode, 2006).
  • Jeremy Hylton Davies … (writer) (1 episode, 2006).
  • Nick Murphy … (writer) (1 episode, 2006).
  • Christopher Spencer … (writer) (1 episode, 2006).
  • Lyall B. Watson … (1 episode, 2006).
  • James Wood … (writer) (2 episodes, 2006).
• Music:
  • Ty Unwin … (5 episodes, 2006).
  • Samuel Sim … (1 episode, 2006).
• Cinematography:
  • Rob Goldie … (2 episodes, 2006).
  • Chris Hartley … (unknown episodes).
  • Neville Kidd … (unknown episodes).
• Editor(s):
  • Simon Holland … (2 episodes, 2006).
  • Colin Goudie … (1 episode, 2006).
  • Martin Johnson … (unknown episodes).
  • Bobby Sheikh … (unknown episodes).
• Production:
  • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
  • ZDF.
  • Discovery Channel.
• Distributor(s):
  • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2006) (UK) (TV).
  • Movie-Eye Media (2008) (Japan) (DVD).
• Release Date: 21 September 2006 to 26 October 2006.
• Rating: 12.
• Running Time: 60 minutes.
• Country: UK.
• Language: English.

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