The Eagle of the Ninth

In Britannia in 130, a young Roman officer named Marcus Flavius Aquila and his freed slave Esca search for the Ninth Legion's gold eagle standard, which vanished with the legion 13 years earlier.

This was made back in the day when the BBC would produce a Sunday evening serialisation of a well known story. This time it's Rosemary Sutcliff's tale of the search by "Aquila" (Anthony Higgins) and his recently spared slave "Esca" (Christian Rodska) for the lost eagle of the ninth Roman legion. His father was one of it's, now rather disgraced, commanders and when "Aquila" hears rumour that this valuable golden symbol has been spotted amongst the tribes in the north of Britain - far beyond the safety of Hadrian's Wall, he decides that, injured as he is, he must restore his family honour and undergo the perilous search to retrieve it. "Esca" was once a tribal prince and sworn enemy of the invaders, but takes a vow of honour to help his new master and off they go on their hazardous quest. With thousands of unwelcoming Scottish glens before them, and the winter weather closing in, they have a big enough challenge on their hands to find the eagle let alone managing to fetch it back safely. Though some of the production is a bit stage bound, and shot using fixed camera positions a lot of the time, the characterisations are well delivered by the not immediately convincing Higgins, the warrior-like Rodska and by David Hayman and Victor Carin as their dangerous adventure hots up. It's fairly faithful to the original story and reminded me that having the net in a gladiatorial battle was not as hopeless as it might seem. It's a good watch.