Issa Alexandria

Was Cleopatra a seductress or a great politician? Shakespeare scholar Dr Islam Issa grew up in Birmingham with his Egyptian-born parents. As a child he was taught Cleopatra was a great politician, who turned her capital, Alexandria, into a global seat of learning and made Egypt one of the most powerful countries on the planet. But as a teenager, he realised she had a very different reputation in Britain - either a tragic Shakespearian heroine or a seductress, portrayed by screen sirens like Elizabeth Taylor. In this programme, Dr Issa sets out to discover the story behind these two, very different, Cleopatras.