Emperor: Blood, Sex & The End Of Rome | Preview (Channel 5)

It was one of the bloodiest, most vicious eras of history; the birth of the Roman Empire. Ultimate power of life and death over millions of people rested in the hands of one man… or did it? Behind the scenes, pulling the strings, were a line of cunning, ruthless women. These dangerous wives and mistresses were the real power behind the throne.

Narrator Dame Sian Phillips returns to the role that chilled the nation’s blood in “I Claudius”, as the calculating cold-blooded empress Livia Drusilla. Witness how she rose to become the most powerful woman in the world, for the first-time enabling women to change the course of western civilisation. But Livia’s dynasty is built on ruthless betrayal, incest and bloodshed… Game of Thrones, eat your heart out.

The first Empress of Rome, the ruthless Livia Drusilla, carves a corpse-strewn path to putting her own son on the emperor’s throne. But her golden dynasty is to descend into an age of terror and depravity.

Livia’s story begins with the brutal assassination of the Roman Republic’s most powerful general, Julius Caesar. The chaos and bloody power grabs that follow even take down Egypt’s legendary queen Cleopatra, but the Posh and Becks of the Roman Republic, Augustus and Livia, seize their moment.

Through a ruthless combination of gladiatorial violence, sexual alliances and cold-blooded murder, they hoodwink the world’s most powerful democracy into nominating Augustus as a single autocratic leader - the first Emperor of Rome.

Augustus ushers in a golden age of peace and prosperity, whilst behind the scenes, Livia carves out a role for Rome’s elite women to become the real architects of empire. Her husband now has ultimate control of Rome, so he can name whichever male heir he likes to succeed him. Livia sees her chance to put her own son from a previous marriage onto the throne. As long as Augustus has no surviving grandsons…

Augustus’ wanton daughter Julia is his last hope of providing an heir, but one by one, her husbands and sons meet a mysteriously early death. There’s poison in the air, and fingers point to Livia. She finally eliminates Julia by scandalising Rome with her reputation for drunken affairs, and Livia persuades Augustus to adopt her son from a previous marriage, Tiberius, as sole heir.

Now only Augustus himself stands in the way of Tiberius becoming emperor, and he is mysteriously killed by poisoned figs. Could Livia have assassinated her own husband of 50 years? Her dynasty is now certainly secured, but Tiberius is about to drag her golden legacy into a reign of paranoid terror.

Emperor: Blood, Sex & the End of Rome begins Saturday 23rd November on Channel 5.