Roman Mysteries (TV series)

Roman Mysteries
The Roman Mysteries Title Card
GenreChildren's
Action
Adventure
Period
Created byCaroline Lawrence
StarringEli Machover
Rebekah Brookes-Murrell
Harry Stott
Francesca Isherwood
ComposerCross Wyre
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes20
Production
Executive producersJon East
David Hunt
Keith Littler
ProducersDavid Ball
Martyn Auty
Production locationsMalta
Tunisia
Bulgaria
EditorAdam Green
Running time60 minutes (30 minutes per episode)
Original release
NetworkBBC One, CBBC
Release8 May 2007 (2007-05-08) –
2 September 2008 (2008-09-02)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Roman Mysteries is a television series based on the series of children's historical novels by Caroline Lawrence. It is reportedly the most expensive British children's TV series to date at £1 million per hour.[1]

The series began filming in June 2006[2] in Malta, Tunisia and Bulgaria, and was first broadcast from 8 May 2007.[3] The series is divided into "scrolls", each based on one book, starting with The Secrets of Vesuvius. The stories are told in the same order as the book series, except for book 6, The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina, which is transposed to the second series. Books 11 and 12 were not adapted, and the series ends with the adaptation of Book 13. Each scroll consists of two half-hour episodes. The first scroll guest-starred Simon Callow as Pliny the Elder.

On 22 May 2007, after just two episodes, Anne Foy announced on CBBC on BBC One that the show has been postponed due to recent events in the news and would return later in the year on CBBC on BBC One. Since "The Pirates of Pompeii" was about children being kidnapped, the postponement was most likely due to the then recent disappearance of Madeleine McCann. On 19 June the series began broadcasting again from the beginning.

Filming for the second series began on 13 August 2007 and the second series was first broadcast from 8 July 2008.

The series has been successful internationally, and both series have been released on DVD.