''Barbarians Rising'' is an American

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

television series executive produced by Adam Bullmore and produced by Chloe Leland and Michael Waterhouse that airs on

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

. It premiered on June 6, 2016.

Synopsis

The series is told from the perspective of leaders of peoples that fought Rome, who were termed

barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

by the Romans. These individuals were famous for challenging the rule of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Depictions of these leaders and historical events are interspersed with brief commentary from modern scholars, historians and experts on military and public policy.

Cast

Nicholas Pinnock Nicholas Andre Pinnock (born 2 September 1973) is a British actor. He is known for his roles as lead character Aaron Wallace in the American legal drama '' For Life'' and Leon in award-winning Channel 4 drama ''Top Boy''. Early life and educa ...

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...

* Jefferson Hall as

Viriathus Viriathus (also spelled Viriatus; known as Viriato in Portuguese and Spanish; died 139 BC) was the most important leader of the Lusitanian people that resisted Roman expansion into the regions of western Hispania (as the Romans called it) or w ...

Ben Batt Ben Batt (born 7 February 1986) is an English actor, best known for his role as the villainous List of Shameless (British TV series) characters#Joe Pritchard, Joe Pritchard in Channel 4's comedy drama ''Shameless (UK TV series), Shameless''. He ...

Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprisin ...

Tom Hopper Thomas Edward Hopper (born 28 January 1985) is a British actor. He has appeared as Percival in ''Merlin'', Billy Bones in '' Black Sails'', Dickon Tarly in ''Game of Thrones'', and Luther Hargreeves in ''The Umbrella Academy''. Early life T ...

Arminius Arminius ( 18/17 BC – 21 AD) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, in which three Roman legions under the command of ge ...

Kirsty Mitchell Kirsty Loretta Mitchell (born 28 June 1974) is an award nominated Scottish actress, She is the Scottish voice of Mòrag Ladair in ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2''. In 2019, she began appearing in the BBC medical drama series '' Casualty'' as ACP Fait ...

Boudica Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...

Steven Waddington Steven Waddington (born 30 December 1967) is an English film and television actor. He is best known for his supporting role in Michael Mann's ''The Last of the Mohicans''. Early life Waddington was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

Fritigern Fritigern (fl. 370s) was a Thervingian Gothic chieftain whose decisive victory at Adrianople during the Gothic War (376–382) led to favourable terms for the Goths when peace was made with Gratian and Theodosius I in 382. Name ''Fritigern'' appe ...

* Gavin Drea as Alaric *

Emil Hostina Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

Richard Brake Richard Colin Brake (born 30 November 1964) is a Welsh-American character actor, known for his supporting roles as Joe Chill in ''Batman Begins'' (2005), Doom-Head in '' 31'' (2016), and the chemist in '' Mandy'' (2018), as well as his lead role ...

Geiseric Gaiseric ( – 25 January 477), also known as Geiseric or Genseric ( la, Gaisericus, Geisericus; reconstructed Vandalic: ) was King of the Vandals and Alans (428–477), ruling a kingdom he established, and was one of the key players in the dif ...

Episodes

Production

The History Channel ordered ''Barbarians Rising'' in December 2015. The cast, and the U.S. and Canadian premiere dates of June 6, 2016, were announced in May 2016.

Broadcast

History (Canada) The History Channel (also known as History) is a Canadian English language specialty channel that primarily broadcast programming related to history and historical fiction. It is owned by Corus Entertainment, with the History branding used under ...

debuted the miniseries the same month as the United States and has it available for viewing On Demand for a full year. ''Barbarians Rising'' premiered in the United Kingdom on August 31, 2016. It is scheduled to premiere in Italy and Australia on July 4, and in much of Europe on July 17. The series will premiere in Germany in September 2016, and in Japan, Spain and Portugal in fall 2016.

Reception

Despite the high number of viewers, the show received mixed reviews. Brian P. Kelly of ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' gave ''Barbarians Rising'' a mixed review, commending History Channel "for offering a show that deals with, well, history" while also noting "the series is slowed to the point of exhaustion by its lengthy re-enactments". Verne Gay of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' was also mixed in his appraisal of the miniseries giving it a grade of 'C' and remarking that "The sword-and-sandal mini-epics here are lavishly produced, and (for the most part) dramatically comatose."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbarians Rising History (American TV channel) original programming 2016 American television series debuts 2010s American drama television series English-language television shows Cultural depictions of Boudica Depictions of Spartacus on television Cultural depictions of Attila the Hun Cultural depictions of Hannibal Cultural depictions of Arminius Television series set in the Roman Empire Films directed by Maurice Sweeney