The Cleopatras

The Cleopatras is a 1983 BBC Television eight-part historical drama serial. Written by Philip Mackie, it is set in Ancient Egypt during the latter part of the Ptolemaic Dynasty with an emphasis on the Cleopatras. Intended to be the I, Claudius of the 1980s, The Cleopatras met with a decidedly mixed critical reaction, and was regarded and portrayed as a gaudy farce. It also produced a number of complaints due to scenes of nudity.

The title and incidental music was written and composed by Nick Bicât. In January 1983 a 7" vinyl was released to tie in with the original broadcast.

Although the show has never been rebroadcast or released on DVD, clips were featured in a 2015 BBC documentary about how Cleopatra VII has been depicted and presented in film and on television.

Alexandria, 145 BC. Upon the death in battle of her husband and brother King Ptolemy VI, Queen Cleopatra II has to marry her younger brother, Ptolemy, to remain on the throne. Ptolemy secretly orders the murder of his nephew and heir, Eupator, the son of his wife and their brother, the late King, then impregnates his new wife with a new child (it turns out to be a boy, whom they call Memphites), and then rapes Eupator's sister, his step-daughter and niece Cleopatra III, his wife's own daughter, who becomes pregnant by him, so he decides to divorce her mother and marries her instead. They rule as an uneasy triumvirate. Ptolemy and Cleopatra III are driven out of Egypt by the mob. Ptolemy takes revenge on his sister Cleopatra II by murdering their only son Memphites, his sister's only male child and heir, and sending her his dismembered corpse as a birthday present.

Ptolemy and Cleopatra III re-invade Egypt, banishing Cleopatra II to Syria, where her daughter Cleopatra Thea is queen consort, but is constantly displeased with the reign of her incompetent husband, King Demetrius. Cleopatra seeks the aid of Demetrius in regaining her throne, but when he fails, his wife orders his slaughter in a temple where he has sought refuge. Her intention is to proclaim herself queen regnant, and her favourite younger son Grypus a puppet co-ruler, but she is forestalled by her elder son Seleucus, who proclaims himself king instead, allowing her to be only the Queen Mother of Syria. She tries to make a puppet ruler of him instead, but when he resists her influence she poisons him at the dinner table. After his death, Grypus finally becomes King of Syria, but with time comes to dislike his mother's increasing desire for power and influence over him.

Meanwhile, Ptolemy announces a sudden change of character - henceforth he is to be known as Ptolemy the Benign. He makes up with his sister Cleopatra II and allows her to return to Egypt from Syria and be a queen once more, much to the dislike of his wife and co-ruler, Queen Cleopatra III, who still sees her mother as a rival. Cleopatra III and Ptolemy's eldest son and daughter, Chickpea and Cleopatra IV, get married, again to Cleopatra's great dislike (because they are in love with each other, but she hates him because he is a product of rape), and their second daughter, Cleopatra Tryphaena, is married to her cousin Grypus, who then, persuaded by her, begins to resist his mother's influence. When his mother tries to kill him, he forces her to drink the poison and she dies.

Finally, Queen Cleopatra II dies peacefully in her bed, and her brother, King Ptolemy, leaves on his own deathbed a will which he designed to cause mayhem among his family. His wife Cleopatra III is named as his successor, but she chooses her favourite younger son, Alexander, to share the throne with her. The mob dislikes that, because Alexander is not the eldest son, so she has no alternative but to proclaim her elder son Chickpea, whom she loathes, King of Egypt instead, but proceeds to divorce him from her eldest daughter Cleopatra IV, with whom he already has a daughter, Cleopatra Berenike, and to marry her youngest daughter Cleopatra Selene to him instead, making her, and not the firstborn Cleopatra IV, wife of the king and thus queen consort of Egypt. After that she exiles Cleopatra IV, who tries to get support with her younger brother Alexander, who is now governor of Cyprus; when she fails, she goes to the court of her cousin Grypus and her sister Tryphaena, who receives orders from her mother to put Cleopatra to death. Cleopatra doublecrosses Grypus and uses her army to help Grypus's brother and rival to the throne, Cyzicenus, who marries her and makes her Queen of Syria, so when the civil war in Syria takes another turn, Grypus and Tryphaena capture Cleopatra IV and Tryphaena has her killed. Some time later, the war in Syria again takes different turn, and Queen Cleopatra Tryphaena gets captured by her brother-in-law Cyzicenus, who takes revenge upon her for killing his wife, and slowly and painfully kills her. In the meanwhile, Queen Cleopatra III and her daughter, Queen Cleopatra Selene, arrange for Chickpea to be driven out of the kingdom by an angry mob, whom they convince that Chickpea tried to kill his mother. Chickpea flees Egypt and goes to Cyprus, while Alexander finally becomes his mother's co-ruler, whom she treats as a puppet. Selene is married to the widowed King Grypus of Syria, her cousin and ex-brother-in-law, and Cleopatra III forces Alexander to marry his niece Cleopatra Berenike, Chickpea and Cleopatra IV's young daughter. When hearing of this, his secret wife in Cyprus, with whom he even had a son, takes her own life. When Alexander receives the news, he finally stands up to his mother and tries to suffocate her, but fails, only to be helped by the young, but very ambitious Cleopatra Berenike, his niece and chosen bride-to-be, who wants above everything else to become the ruling queen of Egypt, who finishes her grandmother off with a cushion.

Cleopatra Berenike plots to be rid of Alexander who has turned to drink. Egypt's province of Cyrenaica is willed to Rome on the death of Apion, and Alexander does nothing, against the wishes of his generals. The army defies the King, who attempts to raise a new army of Syrian mercenaries to be paid with gold from the Tomb of Alexander the Great. When the city is outraged at the desecration of the tomb, Alexander flees but is pursued and killed. Chickpea reclaims the throne and Cleopatra Berenike's ambition is realised when he makes her joint monarch. Chickpea brings his mistress Irene and three children from Greece to be with him. He later decides to concentrate on fulfilling his role as chief priest of Egypt, leaving Berenike to run the kingdom. On his death, Irene returns to Greece, leaving the children in the safe care of Berenike. However, Chickpea's death leaves a dangerous power vacuum - and Rome is now taking a more than friendly interest. Rome installs Berenike's nephew Alexander II as the new King, much to her dismay; she refuses to consummate their marriage. Alexander accidentally kills her while attempting to rape her, and the mob kills him in turn. Chickpea's son Fluter, grandson of Cleopatra III, is made the new King.