There is too little documentary value in this docu-drama, and frankly speaking I do not exactly know what the BBC invested so much in it. it may have been for rating reasons at the time of the release of the 'Gladiator' big studios movie, I am just speculating. The film focuses on the history of a gladiator by the time the Colosseum was built we learn a few new facts about the daily life and training methods of the gladiators and the organization of the fights, but the documentary value is too diluted and the fiction part not really too interesting. I found confusing the mix of first person story telling and historical comment in the off-screen commentary. Overall a below-average docu-drama.