Rating:
3/10 by 2 users
The Cleopatras (1983)
Eight-part drama covering the lives of the queens of Egypt from Cleopatra II in 145 BC to the death of the famous Cleopatra VII in 30 BC.
Writing:
Release Date:
Wed, Jan 19, 1983
Country:
Language: En
Runtime: 50
Country:
Language: En
Runtime: 50
Michelle Newell
Cleopatra
Graham Crowden
Theodotus
Richard Griffiths
Pot Belly
Elizabeth Shepherd
Cleopatra, the mother
Robert Hardy
Julius Caesar
Christopher Neame
Mark Antony
David Horovitch
Chickpea
Amanda Boxer
Cleopatra Tryphaena
Antony Carrick
Canidius
Arthur Hewlett
Achoreus
Arthur White
Bolis
Brian Oulton
Aristarchus
Francesca Gonshaw
Arsinoe
Geoffrey Chater
Perigenes
Geoffrey Whitehead
Scipio Africanus
Godfrey James
Cato
Graham Faulkner
Apollodorus
Graham Seed
Ptolemy
Granville Saxton
Cyzicenus
Harold Kasket
Onias
Ian McNeice
Alexander
Jack May
Criton
James Aubrey
Grypus
John Arnatt
Sophron
John Bennett
Philocles
John Moffatt
Quintus Dellius
John Ringham
Pothinus
John Savident
Pythagoras
Moray Watson
Gabinius
Morris Perry
General Chaereas
Patrick Troughton
Sextus
Pauline Moran
Cleopatra Berenike
Peter Dennis
Diomedes
Prue Clarke
Cleopatra Selene
Roger Brierley
Demetrius
Rupert Frazer
Octavian
Seeta Indrani
Maid
Stephen Greif
Demetrius
Sue Holderness
Cleopatra, eldest daughter
Tony Caunter
Achillas
Tony Osoba
Marsyas
Colin Higgins
Seleucus
Richard Bates
Soldier / Servant
Helen Sparks
Dancer
Steve Wilsher
Assassin (uncredited)
Season 1:
Ptolemy VIII, known as Pot Belly, takes control. A vengeful mother has the support of the mob - and persuades Rome she can be just as good a friend as Potbelly. In revenge Pot Belly sends a very special present.
Greek Pharoah Pot Belly shows himself to be one of the few men to better the Cleopatras of his family.
On his deathbed, Pot Belly stages his greatest practical joke -leaving a will gleefully designed to cause mayhem. It works. Chickpea becomes king against Cleopatra's wishes. However, Cleopatra turns the mob against him, leaving her free to invite her favourite son, Alexander, to share the throne with her. She gets more than she bargained for.
Berenike plots to get rid of her drunken husband Alexander. Chickpea reclaims the throne and Berenike's ambition is realised when he makes her joint monarch. However, his death leaves a dangerous power vacuum - and Rome is now taking a more than friendly interest.
For all his eccentricity, Fluter sees clearly that Rome is the true source of all power, and he sets off on an extended royal visit, dispensing large sums of money to bribe both Caesar and the Senate to back him. The Egyptians, furious at this subservience, depose him in his absence and make his wife, Cleopatra Tryphaena, and his daughter, Berenike, joint monarchs. But the illegitimate Fluter has enough Ptolemy blood not to let go easily.
The youngest and most notorious of the Cleopatras, now 18, becomes joint ruler with her brother Ptolemy. Civil war breaks out. It is only the arrival of Julius Caesar that makes a solution possible. Cleopatra and Caesar become lovers. She believes she has found the man to help her realise her ambition to rule the world.
Cleopatra gives birth to Julius Caesar's son and takes him to republican Rome to persuade Caesar to declare himself King - with her son as heir.
Mark Anthony's insatiable passion for Cleopatra saps his military judgement.