MUMBAI: After co-producing the television miniseries Band of Brothers; HBO and BBC have come together once again for a multimillion pound co-production series. This time round, the two are planning a 12 hour epic series titled Rome.

According to a report in The Guardian, Rome will be an epic dramatisation of the events leading to Julius Caesar's murder by Brutus, and will focus on the creation of the ancient Roman Empire.

The series will be shown in the US and on BBC2 in the UK in 2005. Ciaran Hinds will play Julius Caesar and Lindsay Duncan will play Servilia (Caesar's mistress and mother of Brutus) in Rome.

Prior to this, HBO, which is responsible for hit series such as Sex and the City, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos, has worked with the BBC on the critically acclaimed Band of Brothers. The series was a rage abroad although in India it wasn't able to make as much of an impression.

According to the report, BBC is hoping that Rome will ignite audiences' interest in all things Roman in the same way as its 1976 drama I Claudius caught viewers' imagination.

Buzz is that if the first series of Rome which will be broadcast in 2005, is a success, two more could follow.

The Guardian reported that the series will use the latest computer-generated imagery to follow the key events within the Roman Empire from 51BC, such as Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul as seen from the perspective of two Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo.

Filmed on location across Europe and north Africa, Rome will also take in the rise and fall of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.