Colosseum, the new BBC series on the ancient amphitheatre, really should have an exclamation mark after it. It’s just so – exclamationy! A rollicking journey through 300 years of Roman history, via the construction of the enormous monument and the bloody games within, it could not be a more appealing introduction to the subject.
Ideally, you will be new not just to the Romans, but also to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator aesthetic of the Roman empire that has dominated since Russell “Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife” Crowe stepped forward and asked if we were not entertained.
