It's a series I thought bland at the time of first watching it, featuring far too much family background and concentrating less on the activities of the dictator. It was, however, a series that I'd remember every now and then and wanted to see again, thinking that it was probably a better series than I originally gave it credit for.

Having watched it on this release I was surprised by how good it actually is, more like an epic film than the TV programme it is.

It boasts an impressive cast, some of whom I'd forgotten was in it: George C Scott, Lee Grant, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Raul Julia, Gabriel Byrne, Robert Downey Jr, Gina Bellman, David Suchet.

Although it does have a lot of family related dialogue, it is a well constructed, very well acted drama and I found it all very engrossing. It lasts 5 hours 20 minutes and I watched it in one go.

It's not a 100% accurate version of what happened but it is a diverting piece of television.

DVD quality is okay but there are no extra features other than scene selection.