CREDITS GLADIATOR, 2000 dir: Ridley Scott Russell Crowe Joaquin Phoenix Oliver Reed Connie Nielsen Richard Harris Derek Jacobi Djimon Hounsou David Schofield David Hemmings

Ridley Scott's epic borrows heavily from Anthony Mann's 1964 Fall of the Roman Empire (which had Alec Guinness in the Richard Harris role of Marcus Aurelius, and Christopher Plummer as the barking mad emperor Commodus) and Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (which was, itself, begun by Anthony Mann).

The savage opening battle, set in 'Germania', was staged at The Bourne near Farnham, Surrey. The story that filming caused ructions among environmentalists after swathes of forest were cleared seems to be a bit of a concoction – this was an area already scheduled for clearing by the Forestry Commission.

The African town, where Russell Crowe is sold into slavery, is AÔt Ben Haddou, near Ouarzazate in Morocco.

The provincial arena was added to the existing village, which had already hosted films such as David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah and Jewel of the Nile.

The vast 'Roman' sets (with CGI additions) were constructed on the massive remains of Fort Ricasoli on Malta, later used for the filming of Troy.