I, Claudius 40th Anniversary: Waiting in the Wings

A Sign from the Gods!

Episode 3: Waiting in the Wings
Broadcast Date: UK: September 27, 1976 U.S.: November 20, 1977
Studio BBC/London Film Productions Ltd.
Producer Martin Lisemore
Director Herbert Wise
Writer Jack Pulman (Based on the novel by Robert Graves)
Starring Derek Jacobi, Sian Phillips, Brian Blessed, George Baker, Frances White, Margaret Tyzack
Introducing Kevin McNally as Castor, Kevin Stoney as Thrasyllus
Guest starring Ashley Knight as Young Claudius, Esmond Knight as Domitius, Simon MacCorkindale as Lucius, Darien Angadi as Plautius, Michael Clements as Herod Agrippa, Alisteir Kiel as Postumus

Tiberius grows more impatient and violent in his exile in Rhodes. With Augustus steadfast on refusing his return, Livia has to find some way to help her son. She discovers that daughter-in-law Julia has found ways to keep her bed warm without Tiberius. Already mourning the loss of grandson Gaius, it appears Augustus is going to lose a daughter as well. Meanwhile, the next generation of the Imperial Family has to deal with the lame, twitching, stammering Claudius, a hopeless burden to everyone.

Death(s) of this episode:
Lucius: drowning

Memorable quotes:
“Still any more news on how he [Gaius] died?” -Tiberius
"None. It’s very mysterious. Unfortunately, the body was burned before an autopsy was ordered. When you die in the East, they don’t keep you hanging about long." -Thrasyllus

"People say Tiberius didn’t mind getting banished to get away from me. That wasn’t all of it. I think he was pleased to get away from his mother. She used to invite him to dinner too often." –Julia
“Julia, don’t joke!” –Antonia
“I’m not! I’ve seen his face often enough when she pours wine for him. I tell you I don’t dine there happily myself.” –Julia
"You've upset me, you really have! It's a terrible thing to accuse anyone of poisoning without proof." -Antonia
"But she accuses me of all sorts of things without proof." -Julia
"Then make sure she doesn't get any then." -Antonia

“It’s a wolf cub!” –Castor
“Mother, it dropped, right from its [an Eagle] claws!” –Germanicus
“Leave him be! It fell to Claudius, leave him be!” –Antonia
“Look at the blood! Ye Gods, what does it mean? Domitius tell us what it means!” –Julia
“Lady, I…” –Domitius
“You know what it is! I can tell it from your face! Tell us, I beg you!” –Antonia
“The wolf cub is Rome, no doubt of it. Romulus was suckled by a wolf as her own cub. And Romulus was Rome! Mars, look at it! All torn about the neck and shivering with fear. A wretched sight! Rome will be wretched one day! But he [Claudius], will protect it. He and no other.” –Domitius
Claudius as protector of Rome? I hope I should be dead by then!"-Livilla
"Go to your room! You shall have nothing to eat for the rest of the day!" –Antonia

“What are you doing here, child? Get back to your lessons at once!" –Livia
“Oh, he’s [Claudius] been helping me teach the knights a thing or two. I used him as a model.” -Augustus
"A model of what? Idiocy?"-Livia

“What about Claudius? Who’s going to marry Claudius?” -Augustus
"I’ll find someone. It won’t be easy, but I’ll find someone. Most women marry fools but it takes them a while to find out. Unfortunately, with Claudius it’s as plain as the nose on his face." -Livia

"I suppose you’ll miss him [Lucius] when he goes to Spain." -Antonia
"Hmhm, but I’ll miss that good-looking friend of his friend even more." -Julia

"Is there anyone in Rome who has not slept with my daughter?!" -Augustus

“Father! Father! Please, please, don’t send me away! I couldn’t bear it!” -Julia

"This is your doing, isn't it? You don’t think I don’t know? You think you’re very clever. You think by discrediting me it’ll bring your son back from Rhodes? You are so transparent. You want that precious son of yours to follow him when he dies so you can come in to your own? But I have two sons and they both come before yours. Make your mind up to it, Livia: when my father dies, you won't be wanted anymore. You take my advice, and climb on the funeral pyre with him!" -Julia

"That family is beginning to look like a Greek Tragedy!" -Tiberius

"You dine with me tonight, and we’ll talk!" -Livia
"Yes, mother." -Tiberius

Trivia:
-The children of the Agrippa-Julia union were Gaius, Lucius, Julilla (absent from the series), Agrippina, and Postumus (His name coming from being born after his father's death). Drusus and Antonia’s children are Germanicus, Livilla, and Claudius. Tiberius' marriage to Vispania created a son, Drusus, or 'Castor' as Graves and Pulman call him.
-Herod Agrippa's grandfather is Herod the Great. Herod was the King of Judea known in the Gospel of Matthew for trying to kill the baby Jesus in his Slaughter of the Innocents. His paranoia also led to the deaths of many of his own family (most of whom bore the family name). One of those victims was H. Agrippa's father Herod Aristobulus. H. Agrippa's sister Herodias will marry two of her half-uncles (H. Philip and H. Antipas) and conspire with her daughter Salome in the beheading of John the Baptist. H. Agrippa will also play a villainous role in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles.
-It is said that Claudia Proclas, the wife of Pontius Pilate, is the illegitimate daughter of Julia from one of her lovers.
-Historically, Gaius actually died between Julia's banishment and Lucius' death.
-Kevin Stoney had played Thrasyllus before; In a 1968 BBC Serial called The Caesars, which featured Roland Culver as Augustus, Sonja Dresdel as Livia, Andre Morell as Tiberius, Freddie Jones as Claudius, Ralph Bates as Caligula, Eric Flynn as Germanicus, with Suzan Farmer, Barrie Ingham, and Nicola Pagett. -Darien Angadi also starred in several other Roman historical programs, such as The Complete Works of William Shakespeare programs of 'Julius Caesar' (1979) and 'Antony and Cleopatra' (1982; Angadi was also in the 1972 film version).
-I suppose WGBH-TV, in its original US broadcast, edited Julia's orgy, excising one female guest and her exposed breast.
-Simon MacCorkindale played another Roman named Lucius in the 1977 TV Mini-series Jesus of Nazareth. However, this Lucius appears at Jesus' scourging and 'coronation,' a few decades after Agrippa Lucius' death.