Time has moved on from the first episode. We can tell this in various ways – firstly, the previously infant Claudius is now a lad of about eight or nine. Young Claudius is played by Ashley Knight. I always like to dig into the credits of child actors to see how far their career progressed – most of Knight’s credits were as a juvenile but he certainly packed a lot in (playing Jim Hawkins in the excellent 1977 BBC Classic Serial adaptation of Treasure Island, for example).

Secondly, Tiberius (currently in exile on a small island) has comfortably settled into middle age. I’m pleased to see this (as commented upon last time, George Baker struggled to convince as a callow youth). Livia is also aging – although some of her old-age make up looks a little false. As the episodes click by you’ll have to cut the serial a little slack when considering this part of the production – fair to say that some of the make-up doesn’t always convince (although I’m sure it was the best that could have been done at the time).

Livia, it won’t surprise you to know, continues to plot. Augustus’ daughter Julia (Frances White) has become a notorious man-eater – and it seems that everyone in Rome knows, apart from her father. This makes Augustus look more than a little foolish – the most powerful man in Rome with such a blind spot? But it’s easy to see that his subordinates would either be terrified to tell him or possibly just assumed he knew and condoned her behavior.

One of Julia’s many, many conquests is the fresh faced Plautius (Darien Angadi), a friend of Julia’s brother Lucius (Simon MacCorkindale). Angadi died tragically young (in 1981, aged 31) but he still managed to notch up a fair few television credits.  Plautius is putty in the hands of Livia, and it’s a joy to watch how she effortlessly turns the young man into her informer.

If their scenes are a definite episode highlight, then – obviously – so is the moment when Augustus lines up a long row of senators accused of sleeping with his daughter and disbelievingly interrogates them. Blessed is at his very best here – Augustus is initially baffled as he encounters old friends, but his anger is quickly stoked. John Scott Martin is the unfortunate who receives the most savage rebuff from Augustus.

With Lucius now discredited (and shortly to die in what appears to be an accident, but you can never be sure) and Julia exiled (Frances White certainly knows to to wail) it looks like Livia has achieved her aim – the recall of Tiberius to Rome.

He seems to have been living a fairly comfortable life, but the lack of company has been a problem. Still at least he has Thrasyllus (Kevin Stoney) on hand to cast endless horoscopes and offer hope for the future. Stoney had previously played Thrasyllus in Philip Mackie’s The Caesars (1968) so you have to assume his casting here was a nod to that production.

If you’ve never seen it, then I can strongly recommend The Caesars. It roughly covers the same period of time as I Claudius but is by no means a retread (Mackie’s Tiberius is a very different character from the one offered by Graves/Pulman, Livia is only a minor character, etc).

Once again, Derek Jacobi has little to do but bookend the episode. The final scene is a memorable one though – it swiftly cuts from the young Claudius with his friends to the aged one now sitting alone in the same spot, with only his memories for company.