Roman Mysteries (2007): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2007, Roman Mysteries is an action & adventure and drama series.

What it’s about. Roman Mysteries is a television series based on the series of children's historical novels by Caroline Lawrence. It is reportedly the most expensive British children's TV series to date at £1 million per hour. The series began filming in June 2006 and was first broadcast from 8 May 2007. The series is divided into "scrolls", each based on one book, starting with The Secrets of Vesuvius. The stories are told in the same order as the book series, except for book 6, The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina, which is transposed to the second season. Books 11 and 12 were not adapted, and the series ends with the adaptation of Book 13. Each scroll consists of two half-hour episodes. The first scroll guest-starred Simon Callow as Pliny the Elder. On 22 May 2007, after just two episodes, Anne Foy announced on CBBC on BBC One that the show has been postponed due to recent events in the news and would return later in the year on CBBC on BBC One. Since "The Pirates of Pompeii" was about children being kidnapped, the postponement was most likely due to the then recent disappearance of Madeleine McCann. On 19 June the series began broadcasting again from the beginning. Filming for the second season began on 13 August 2007. The episodes are based on the novels The Gladiators from Capua, The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina, The Colossus of Rhodes, The Fugitive from Corinth and The Slave-girl from Jerusalem.

Who’s in it. Roman Mysteries stars Harry Stott as Lupus, Francesca Isherwood as Flavia, Rebekah Murrell as Nubia and Richard Ridings as Venalicius, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 5.0/10, Roman Mysteries has proved divisive with audiences.

Where to watch. In GB you can rent or buy it from Apple TV Store. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Roman Mysteries page.

If you liked it. Fans of Roman Mysteries tend to enjoy Rick and Morty, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Attack on Titan and Attack on Titan: No Regrets.