1983

S1.E1 ∙ 145 BC

Tue, Jan 18, 1983

Alexandria, 145 BC. On the death of her husband, Queen Cleopatra has to marry her brother, the infamous Pot Belly, to secure her throne. Pot Belly, however, takes a fancy to his step-daughter, the younger Cleopatra. They rule as an uneasy triumvirate. In the power struggle that ensues, both sides play a devastating trump card.

6.4 /10

S1.E2 ∙ 128 BC

Tue, Jan 25, 1983

128 BC. Pot Belly and the younger Cleopatra re-invade Egypt, banishing Cleopatra the mother to Syria, where her daughter Cleopatra Thea is maintaining the best family traditions of remorseless feuding. Meanwhile, Pot Belly announces a sudden change of character - henceforth he is to be known as "Pot Belly the Benign." The results are startling.

7 /10

S1.E3 ∙ 115 BC

Tue, Feb 01, 1983

115 BC. 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.

6.5 /10

S1.E4 ∙ 100 BC

Tue, Feb 08, 1983

100 BC. The Ptolemy version of monarchical chairs continues as 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.

5.6 /10

S1.E5 ∙ 80 BC

Tue, Feb 15, 1983

80 BC. 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.

6.4 /10

S1.E6 ∙ 51 BC

Tue, Feb 22, 1983

51 BC. 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.

6.6 /10

S1.E7 ∙ 46 BC

Tue, Mar 01, 1983

46 BC. Cleopatra gives birth to Caesar's son and takes him to republican Rome to persuade Caesar to declare himself King - with her son as his heir. She is only defeated by Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March. She returns swiftly to Egypt, ruthlessly securing her position there. When casting around for the next man most likely to make her queen of the world her eye settles on a very successful general named Mark Antony.

5.6 /10

S1.E8 ∙ 35 BC

Tue, Mar 08, 1983

35 BC. Mark Antony's insatiable passion for Cleopatra saps his military judgment. Living only for pleasure, his downfall seems inevitable. However, Cleopatra is a supreme fighter.

5.6 /10