I, CLAUDIUS

BBC Radio 4 presents a dramatization of poet and classicist Robert Graves’s Julio-Claudian family saga. In this adaptation, the brilliant Derek Jacobi plays Augustus Caesar, and Tom Goodman-Hill brings wit and wile to the stammering Claudius. Equally wonderful are Harriet Walter as the devious Livia Augusta; Tim McInnerny as the decadent tyrant Tiberius; and Samuel Barnett as the raving mad Caligula. Claudius, overlooked as a threat by the power players because of his drooling, seemingly witless, demeanor, relates the family’s history—from the manipulations of his grandmother, Livia, through reigns of the beleaguered Emperor Augustus, the dark Tiberius, and the insane Caligula, into his own reign as fourth emperor of Rome. Superb performances by all make this perfect for audio. S.J.H. 2012 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2011]