James Walton

Watching Queen Cleopatra felt like witnessing the death of scholarship

Plus: an avalanche of rather histrionic plotting from BBC1's new drama Ten Pound Poms

Adele James (right) as Queen Cleopatra
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  • Queen Cleopatra

    Netflix

  • Ten Pound Poms

    BBC1

The most controversial aspect of Netflix’s new drama-documentary Queen Cleopatra – not least in Egypt – was the casting of a black actress, Adele James, in the title role. After all, one of the few things that seems certain about Cleopatra’s early life is that she was a Macedonian Greek.

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