Sian Phillips Is Stupendous in This
How great is Sian Phillips as the venomous Livia? I found it interesting to read that at first, she had a hard time getting a grip on the role, trying to make the first Roman empress more sympathetic and to figure out how to humanize her wickedness. The director then suggested that she relish the evilness and play the role like Cruella De Ville. The result might be one of the most fiendishly confident performances of all time.
She evolves believably over several episodes from a haughty young beauty to a jaded and disappointed old woman. Throughout the series, she commits acts of astounding cruelty. Yet somehow, her wit, her dignity, and her regal bearing make her a villain you almost root for. She can be alternately charming and manipulative (in her scene when she tricks the chief Vestal), sarcastic and menacing (when she interacts with Plautius and Livilla), and ruthless and bullying (during her pep talk with the gladiators). She anchors the first half of the narrative, and her presence is so palpable that even in her absence, her memory dominates later episodes; indeed, as a whole, the miniseries is as much about her as it is about Claudius.
How wonderful that Sian won the BAFTA award that year--I wish I could find the footage online. To me, her performance ranks as the third greatest female acting turn of all time, just behind Vivien Leigh's Southern diptych.