Tom Hiddleston’s Pompeii series is cheesy as hell – I still had a blast

This review is based on the first two episodes of Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston.

Ash rains down from the sky as though it’s transformed into the pits of hell. A scream echoes from a child calling for his mother. The air is fraught with despair as the world crashes down.

Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston paints a visceral picture of the destruction of the ancient Roman city that’s as haunting as it is mesmerising. But you need to be able to handle the overly theatrical moments too.

The series threatens to take the cheesiness a stretch too far, with Tom’s eyes welling with tears as he’s transported to the day that Vesuvius erupted, and turning back time with a twirl of his fingers. Yet I have no shame in saying that it worked its magic on me. 

I felt the wind being knocked out of me as the volcanic eruption knocked the city to its knees, and Tom sought the help of renowned experts to try to track down possible survivors. I was invested in the lives of people who lived and died almost 2,000 years ago, and as over-the-top as Tom’s storytelling was, I bought it. He is an actor, after all, and a darn good one at that.

I was admittedly the target demographic, having been fascinated by Pompeii when I studied Latin at school, and being a Marvel superfan who lapped up Tom’s God of Mischief. The two combined are my catnip, so as I sat down at the British Museum to watch the first two episodes of the series – just a few seats away from Hiddles himself – I was engrossed.

The actor, best-known for performances in The Night Manager, War Horse, and as Loki in the Marvel cinematic universe, is a self-declared classics boff, and his passion for the subject bleeds into every corner of this part historical, part dramatised story.

After visiting Pompeii as a teenager on his first holiday away with friends, he knew that classics lay in his future. He went on to study the subject at university, and it led him to his career in acting.

Tom, 45, might be the face of Out of Time, but he’s by no means the prime expert. He makes it clear that he has stumbling blocks in his knowledge, which is why he’s turned to specialists including archaeologist Caite Barrett, volcanologist Chris Jackson and disaster psychologist Sarita Johnson. 

As one of the most extensively explored archaeological sites in the world, a lot of the information in this show has likely been out there for years. But I was still blown away when Chris outlined how the eruption of Vesuvius wasn’t just about the instant blast, but caused the ruin of Pompeii over a whole day. And how Sarita analysed how people in Pompeii might have reacted – perhaps initially not believing that there was any cause for concern, given that they would have been used to regular earthquakes.

Out of Time blends fact with imagination, as there’s only so much historical records can prove. The series takes creative licence with the stories of its three potential survivors: Avianius, a teenage boy; Julia Felix, an affluent businesswoman; and a Praetorian Guard. You might roll your eyes as you see Avianius having a tiff with his impoverished mother, wondering why on earth this side story is needed in the series. But for a tale that’s been told time and time again ever since the ruins of Pompeii were discovered in the late 16th century, why not try something different?

Pompeii: Out of Time might not be your cup of tea – in fact, when I told some people about how Tom freezes the frame to tell his audience who the experts are, and how he ‘travels back in time’ to watch the eruption unfold, they responded with audible groans.

But I’d implore you to give it a chance. I learnt some new interesting facts about one of the most famous natural disasters in history, and while the stories about the survivors might have been partially imagined for the sake of creating drama, what’s the harm in wondering how their stories might have played out, while acknowledging that we can’t know every detail with absolute certainty?

I admire Tom for taking his burning passion and turning it into something that he can share with others. It might be cheesy, but he’s daring to be different, and perhaps he’ll inspire more classics enthusiasts in the process.

Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston is available to stream on Disney Plus.