Rome. 63 BC. Julius Caesar is 37. An ambitious aristocrat, holding a minor political office, is determined to climb the senatorial ladder. For almost 500 years, Rome has been ruled on Republican principles – a democracy of sorts, built around the central idea that no one man should ever wield too much power.

But Rome is on a knife edge.

The gulf between the rich political elite and the ordinary people of Rome is growing. And the stage is set for a new type of politics: one where populism clashes with an aristocratic establishment; where whipping up the resentments of the lower classes and threatening political enemies with violence has become the norm. Rome is a tinderbox – a society riven by division – and it is on this precipice that Julius Caesar is poised, ready to exploit those divisions to devastating effect…

Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator is a landmark 3-part box set history series that tells the dramatic story of how nearly five centuries of ancient Roman democracy was overthrown in just 16 years. It the story of a brazen, ambitious power-grab that saw Julius Caesar consolidate the vast power of Rome in his own hands.

The series brings together an expert cast of historians, academics and experienced political operatives to unfold and analyse this epic story, exploring the how Caesar achieved his remarkable rise to power, the impact it had on Rome’s delicate political system and asking – ultimately – why Caesar had to die? Illustrated with artful dramatic moments and packed with contemporary resonances, this epic series has all the elements of the best political thrillers, with complex power dynamics playing out for the biggest of stakes: a psychological drama that seeks to get inside the minds of the protagonists. It unpacks the final decades years of the Roman Republic in fascinating forensic detail.