Produced by Hallmark Entertainment, it stars Leonor Varela as the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, Timothy Dalton as Julius Caesar, Billy Zane as Mark Antony, Rupert Graves as Octavius, Sean Pertwee as Brutus and Bruce Payne as Cassius.

Cleopatra was first broadcast on ABC television network in two parts on two consecutive evenings in May 1999[3] and then released on videotape and DVD in 2001.

Judy Farr, Martin Hitchcock and Frank Walsh were nominated for an Emmy in 1999 for outstanding art direction for a miniseries or a movie for their work on Cleopatra.

Cleopatra VII, Egypt's rightful Queen, is in exile, while her sister Arsinoe and brother Ptolemy have stolen the throne.

Caesar then orders the death of the unscrupulous Prime Minister Pothinus, prompting Ptolemy and Arsinoe to flee and return with their army to drive their sister out of Alexandria.

A battle breaks out between the Romans and the Egyptian forces, and in the process, Alexandria's great library is burned to the ground.

Although he accepts Caesarion as his child, Caesar denies the queen's request, causing Cleopatra to leave him.

The burdens of ruling fall on the shoulders of Caesar's Roman heir and nephew, Octavian and Mark Antony who declares revenge and begins a war against Brutus and Cassius.

Antony reluctantly marries Octavian's sister, Octavia, in order to strengthen his alliance and co-ruling with the new emperor but returns to Egypt.

Defying his Roman beliefs against polygamy, Antony marries Cleopatra in Antioch, claiming that her son, Caesarion, is heir to not only Egypt, but also Rome.