From all of the history I've studied this past year, and all of the historical fiction I've read as well, I cannot accept a physically pretty woman as being Cleo. I liked some of Marshal's performance of that shows version of Cleopatra, but then, the character she played was NOT Cleopatra, just as almost none of the major characters from the show were really anything like they were portrayed. Well, there is one major exception: I thought that David Bamber was perfect as Cicero; from the moment I saw him on screen the first time I watched the show, I suspected that would be Cicero, and then he opened his mouth and started speaking. Oh that voice! I knew right then, before any character even referred to him as Cicero, who he was playing. I also thought that Max Pirkis as the younger Octavian was a great choice (he even sort of looked like Octavian). The only other historical figure on the show that I liked the casting for was Marc Antony; Purefoy (despite not looking the part to me, being way smaller than I figured Antony would be) played the part perfectly I thought.

I really did enjoy "Rome" just as long as I ignored the inaccuracies that are all over the place.