SERIES 2 – Jerusalem, AD70
Macky and Portia arrive in Jerusalem during the Roman
siege. The people inside are starving, whilst the Romans
grow desperate to break through the city walls.
Outside the city, Macky makes several key acquaintances.
One is Isaac, who pretends to be senile most of the time,
but he’s actually an active member of the rebel
underground. His house, filled with hidden rooms and
secret passages, is a safe house for the oppressed. Here
Macky links up with the rebels (zealots) who live inside
Jerusalem and soon becomes a courier between Jerusalem
and the outside world.
Inside Jerusalem, Macky meets a girl, Sarah. Macky is
drawn to Sarah’s idealism, and this puts a strain on his
relationship with Portia. He also meets a Roman officer
named Lucius, widowed father of two young children and
secretly a Friend of Jesus – he was one of Paul’s guards,
many years earlier in Rome.
Macky learns to trust Lucius and he becomes a
valued secret ally as Macky faces his two old
adversaries from Alexandria: Tobias and
Brutacus.
Towards the end of the siege, Macky
takes greater and greater risks and is
finally captured by the Romans.
Portia tries to intervene, but can’t get
him released. Instead she ensures that
Macky is sent to Rome, her
next destination, and his only
hope.
SERIES 3 - Rome, AD71
Arriving in Rome, the centre of power, culture, civilization
and also a snake pit of intrigue and treachery, Macky finds
himself in gladiator school for Circus Maximus, where the
only rule is kill or be killed. Macky wants to do neither, so
Portia intervenes with a Senator, Antonius, who takes Macky
as a slave.
Macky discovers that Antonius is a secret Friend of Jesus and
that at night, he dons a mask and goes out and rescues fellow
Friends of Jesus from jail or helps them escape from
slave-masters. Soon Macky in a disguise of his own starts
helping the Senator.
Antonius has an enemy in the Senate - Marcus, who blames
all the Empire’s woes on the Friends of Jesus. Marcus would
like to prove the notorious masked rebel is actually his
enemy, Antonius. But Antonius is too clever for him.
Marcus enlists the help of Tiberius, Brutacus, Tobias and
Tobias’ mother Luciana, an expert manipulator and
political in-fighter with friends in high places.
Marcus’s noose begins to tighten around
Macky and Antonius and
Macky’s
and
Portia’s
relationship deepens and
matures
through
the
difficult choices they have
to make. Portia will be
forced to make the most
difficult decision of all: wealth,
power and comfort or love and
faith?
Friends and Heroes - Story Overviews
Pre-production information - subject to change as production proceeds.
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