I know that some found it a little bloody, but I was a huge fan of the mini-series Rome. Today's Guardian recommends it as your next boxed set:
The exploits of plebeian soldiers Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo - played respectively by Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson - form the thread that holds the series together. They go from brothers in arms, to buddies, to bitter enemies and beyond. Their estrangement and reconciliation in episode 11 is emotionally exhausting - watching Vorenus agonising with himself as he decides Pullo's fate confirms McKidd as an acting powerhouse. Yet Stevenson's is the more nuanced performance (despite vocally lapsing into his native Geordie occasionally).
Polly Walker's Atia of the Julii, niece of Julius Caesar and arch manipulator, is by turns hateful and charming, while Lyndsey Marshal gives a haunting turn as opium-addicted Cleopatra. "Die screaming, you pigspawn trollop," Atia whispers to Cleopatra as the latter leaves a party for the Egyptians.
I also like James Anthony's description of it as: "Horrible Histories for grownups".
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