Evidence for Tiberius' exile abounds. The sources seem to differentiate between Tiberius' public pretext for retirement and the actual motivation. In the series Pulman provides us with a classic Brian Blessed eruption, with Augustus banishing Tiberius from Rome. This builds on a sentence in Graves, where Julia asks her father that Tiberius be sent away for at least a year or two (p.76). The ancient sources suggest a self-imposed exile. Suetonius stresses that Tiberius was in his prime in 6BC (probably in decent shape after completing Drusus' German campaigns). So it seems curious to him that Tiberius claims fatigue as an excuse for taking a few personal years. Suetonius, brushing aside theories based on his dysfunctional domestic situation or the "absence makes the heart grow fonder" concept, lasers in on the Agrippa Syndrome. Gaius and Lucius were the real reason. Dio concurs, adding even more info on Augustus' promotion of his adopted sons. Even, Velleius, who shamelessly tries to put a good spin on Tiberius' retirement, cannot avoid the Gaius & Lucius factor. Velleius lays it on thickly when he describes the affection Tiberius had for his step-father/father-in-law. Evidently the feeling was not mutual. Dio paints a menacing portrait of the two boys not really found in any of the other sources. Graves (p. 74) picks up on this and has Livia encouraging their bad behaviour. Pulman's final scene fits Graves' characterization of Livia, but his boys appear as innocents in her predatory clutches.