Although the episodes feel remarkably effortless, they manage to impart the darnedest amount of information.

The soundtrack, the visuals and even the show's bookish witnesses to history can wax a bit hyperbolic, but the series takes pains not to rework the overly familiar and just for that is worth a look.

The dramatised parts, if at times slightly histrionic, were mostly well done and complemented the historical analysis of a structure that was.

Between the CGI blood, the disjointed dramatic scenes, and the somewhat stilted expert interviews, it feels like anyone who wants to get the history of the Colosseum in Rome would be better served reading its Wikipedia entry than slogging through 8 hours of Colosseum.