The week in TV: Those About to Die; Lady in the Lake; The Jetty; Simone Biles Rising – review

When was the last time you thought about the Roman empire? The question might have become a well-worn joke on social media over the past year, but one subset of people who clearly think about it all the time are studio executives. With Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 gathering buzz, and Roman shows such as Sky Atlantic’s Domina and Germany’s Barbarians airing in recent years, the ancient imperial power is on the corporate brain.

The latest series to carry this toga-wearing, sword-toting mantle is Amazon Prime’s Those About to Die. Billing itself somewhere between the bloodthirsty world-building of Game of Thrones and the acerbic power plays of Succession, this 10-episode series centres on a grumbling Anthony Hopkins as the elderly emperor Vespasian, who must choose between his two sons, the brawny Titus (Tom Hughes) and brainy Domitian (Jojo Macari), to lead an increasingly fractious empire. While the royals bicker in their gilded thrones, we also follow the political manoeuvring of rival chariot-racing factions in the Circus Maximus, the plight of an enslaved family, and an underground betting ring.

Read the reviews in The Observer.

[This piece was published on 21/07/24]