4/8. How a dramatisation of Robert Graves's classic tale of power play in ancient Rome met with colossal obstacles including legal difficulties, critical reaction and an ancient curse, before becoming a huge television hit in 1976. With contributions from Derek Jacobi and John Hurt. Meera Syal narrates.

Documentary: Drama Connections 10.35pm BBC1
There's a full complement of top-notch actors in the latest Drama Connections who queue up to talk glowingly of the fabulous 1976 BBC2 series, I Claudius.
Claudius himself, the mighty Derek Jacobi, still has warm memories of a riveting drama - a drama many thought was unmakable. There had been previous attempts to film Robert Graves's book, but they were all doomed to fail. John Hurt (who was barmy Caligula), Sian Phillips and Brian Blessed discuss their memories of a production that at first looked as if it was to go the way of all the others. "We were dreadful, we just couldn't make it natural, we were awful," booms Blessed. Yet, somehow, the public latched on to I Claudius and it quickly became a huge, talked-about hit. (AG)