Gunpowder,
Foxtel-BBC First, Tuesday, 8.30pm
This is not the first (and probably not the last) effort to explore the attempt by Catholic conspirators in 1605 to blow up English Parliament and assassinate King James I. It has been done many times and from many angles (the 2004 mini-series Gunpowder, Treason and Plot did it particularly well) but never really from the view of main conspirator Robert Catesby.
So here is that story.
Why?
This was a bit of a pet subject for Game of Thrones’ actor Kit Harrington – a descendent of Catesby. He created, co-produces and stars in the three-part series. Kind of like his own Who Do You Think You Are episode, with lots of violence.
It has moments of tense thriller-like action (the opening scene when the king’s men are search the house of Catholicism) but mostly it seems to be all about the torture. The crushing to death of Catesby’s family matriarch and beheading/disembowelling of a young priest set the tone.
This is history in lavish beautifully shot, gory technicolor sort of like GOT without the dragons (or anything too original).
Harrington is serviceable as his distressed and repressed ancestor, while Mark Gatiss is his usual impressive self as the king’s advisor, and chief bad guy, Robert Cecil in a series that focuses on the period just before and just after the plot (you know the one where Guy Fawkes was discovered watching over barrels of gunpowder).
It’s an interesting take, particularly for history buffs, lavishly realised and well acted but it’s hard to get past the gore.
– Tania Phillips
