William Shakespeare might have been the world’s greatest playwright but he was not the world’s greatest historian, so it would be a mistake to watch this adaptation of Henry VI Parts I, II & III and Richard III in order to discover exactly what went on in the Wars of the Roses. Shakespeare wrote to […]
Versailles: Gripping Drama or a Hall of Mirrors?
Versailles (BBC2, 1 June) follows, over 10 weeks, the transformation of Louis XIV (George Blagden) from weak king in a troubled realm to one of history’s top despots and seventeenth-century style icon. The first episode sees Louis making the key decision to move France’s entire machinery of the government to his father’s old hunting lodge […]
Farinelli and the King, Duke of York Theatre
It’s fair to say that a year ago a lot of people had not heard of Mark Rylance. He is one of our greatest actors and yet, until recently, he’s flown under the radar, largely keeping himself to one of the less commercial corners of British culture – the floorboards of ‘serious’ theatre. This all […]
Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, National Theatre
The political landscape of Britain is in upheaval. There are debates on electoral reform, the rise of smaller political groups calling for radical change, and an attempt to overthrow the beleaguered political powers currently in place. Throw in a few nods concerning the rights of immigrants and you might be forgiven for thinking Light Shining […]
1864: Danish History does Nordic Noir
The success of crime dramas like The Killing and Borgen has brought Scandinavian TV to an international audience. Defined by dark subject matter, bleak, beautifully shot landscapes and slow paced stories, Nordic noir has become a genre that’s a hit with viewers and critics alike. And now Danish history has been given the same treatment. […]
Juliet West watches Testament of Youth
Determined, ambitious and highly intelligent, Vera Brittain was a disappointment to her parents. Alarmed by her bookishness and desire to study at Oxford, their tactic was to buy her a grand piano in the hope that this would persuade her to behave like a proper young lady and become, eventually, somebody’s wife. The arrival of […]
Linda Porter Watches Wolf Hall
I should begin with an admission. I’m not a great fan of Hilary Mantel’s Tudor novels. To me, they are tediously long and too self-consciously ‘literary’. One of the most telling remarks made about them recently was that of the eminent Tudor historian, Diarmaid MacCulloch, whose eagerly-awaited biography of Thomas Cromwell will no doubt become […]
Manda Scott watches Peaky Blinders
Warning: contains spoilers! If you’re old enough to remember Last of the Mohicans – the first, amazing, black-and-white-but-blood-red-scarlet-on-the-inside, Philip Madoc version in which he learned the Mohawk language to play the part, not the ghastly, plastic Daniel Day Lewis vehicle – will know that once in a while, the BBC steps beyond its comfort zone […]