The Last Days of Pompeii is a mini-series which originally aired in 1984 on network television. It is based on the book by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton and tells of the lives of the citizens of the Roman city Pompeii just before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. There are many intertwining stories in this miniseries: the ex-slave and gladiator Lydon who dreams of saving enough money to leave the arena and marry the girl he loves, the blind slave Nydia; the Greek, Glaucus, who is loved by Nydia, but is in love with Ione, an acolyte of the temple of Isis; the treacherous Arbaces, leader of the temple of Isis, who will do absolutely anything, even murder, to fill the temple coffers and assure his own power; the merchant Diomed, who thinks he can buy nobility and respect; the prostitute Chloe, who loves a slave and longs for freedom for her family. And underlying it all is the emergence of the new faith Christianity and the horrible treatment received by the worshipers of Jesus Christ from the Romans, as well as the feeling of impending doom emanating from the volcano which looms over the city.
Duncan Regehr plays Lydon, the gladiator who fights in the arena, but is unable to fight for the woman he loves. The son of a slave, he has bought his freedom, but finds he is still as much a slave as he ever was.
(This mini-series is not available in the U.S. but has been made available in NTSC and PAL VHS versions in Europe and Africa. These may be bootleg versions as are most of the DVD copies that have been sold on various auction sites. In the past year or so, it has started to be shown on some television channels again in three parts as it was seen originally.)