FEATURE BY CHRIS BENTLEY
Readers of a certain age may remember a six-part BBC serial called The Eagle of the Ninth that aired from September to October 1977. Set in Roman Britain after the construction of Hadrian’s Wall, the series related the story of young Roman officer Marcus Aquila (played by Anthony Higgins) and former slave Esca (Christian Rodska) who undertook a dangerous journey beyond the wall to determine the fate of a missing legion and recover its lost eagle standard. The serial was a dramatisation of a best-selling 1954 children’s novel by Rosemary Sutcliff, who based her story on a genuine historical mystery – the disappearance of Legio IX Hispana, the Ninth Legion.
