Britannia ad 43

“Britannia” is a British historical period drama written by Jez Butterworth. The nine-part series is the first co-production between Sky and Amazon Prime Video, and stars Kelly Reilly, David Morrissey, Zoë Wanamaker, Liana Cornell and Stanley Weber. Set in AD 43, the series follows ancient Rome’s conquest of the Celts in the British Isles — “a mysterious land ruled by wild warrior women and powerful druids who can channel the powerful forces of the underworld.” Celtic rivals Kerra and Antedia must work together to fight off the Roman invasion led by Aulus Plautius. I will try to get over my personal dislike of David Morrissey and watch this show because it sounds like a Vikings / Game of thrones type thing. Neil Davidge wrote the score.

Two thousand years ago, the Romans sought to absorb into their empire what they regarded as a remote, almost mythical island on the very edge of the known world Britain. The expeditions of Julius Caesar and the invasion of ad 43 brought fundamental and lasting changes to the island. Not least among these was a pantheon of new Classical deities and religious systems, along with a clutch of exotic eastern cults including Christianity. But what of Britannia and her own home-grown deities? What cults and cosmologies did the Romans encounter and how did they in turn react to them? Under Roman rule, the old gods were challenged, adopted, adapted, absorbed and re-configured.