Synopsis Nearly two thousand years ago most of Britain was a settled peaceful province of the Roman Empire. But the north held out against what was then the world's only superpower and insurrection flared across Hadrian's Wall. So, in 208AD, the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus marched into Scotland with 40,000 men - one of the largest invasion armies Rome ever mobilised. This film brings to life one of most extraordinary conflicts in British history. Severus (played by Gary Oliver) had been a hard-nosed general who had seized his opportunity and fought his way to become Emperor. He was both ambitious and devious, and a man driven by power at any cost. Severus marched north confident that he would go down in history as the Emperor who united the whole island under Roman rule - better than Hadrian, better than Julius Caesar. But the Northern British tribes gave Severus the fight of his life. Unable to confront the Roman army head on the Northern tribes fought back with a vicious guerrilla campaign. Isolated Roman patrols were attacked by British charioteers, who would then retreat back into the remote landscape they knew so well. For four years Severus and his army struggled against the Northern Tribes insurgents, until frustrated by this costly stalemate he called for the annihilation of the northerners. He was said to have quoted Homer, "Let all perish, unmourned and forgotten". This incredible story throws a light into the sheer tenacity of the British Northern Tribes and their determination to hold back the mighty Roman army from conquering their lands.