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The Guardian
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV's best (and worst) historical epics: from Wolf Hall to I, Claudius
Inflate thy balloons and unsheathe thy Party Rings, for here is Chief of War (Apple TV+) to remind us of the joy of the scowling historical epic. Here too, almost, is Battle of Hastings belter King & Conqueror (BBC, August). And Spartacus: House of Ashur (Starz, this winter). Also in the period-specific pipeline are second series for Disney+'s brilliant Shogun and Amazon Prime's terrible House of David. Historical epics, it would not be unreasonable to say, are everywhere. But which are the best and which should be catapulted, screaming, across a poorly rendered CGI battlefield? Given their abundance, some arbitrary judging criteria are clearly in order. Hence: no 'fantasy' nonsense (ie Game of Thrones) and nothing set after the early 1800s, the latter on the grounds that a) there are too many of the sods and b) Julian 'Downton Bloody Abbey' Fellowes has effectively tucked the era under his top hat and run off with it while honking like an overprivileged goose. Let battle commenceth… A barrel-chested wodge of Big History in which mountainous creator and co-writer Jason Momoa thunders through the based-on-true-events that led to the late 18th century unification and, ultimately, colonisation of his native Hawaii. And it's brilliant; from its predominantly Polynesian cast to the sense of doom that swirls perpetually around the scenic foothills of Mount Momoa. It may lean a touch too heavily on extended, subtitled brawls in which there is much [grunting], but this is heartfelt storytelling; as muscular and sincere as its loinclothed protagonist. Startlingly brutal middle ages od(in)yssey in which mud-caked peasants duck from the flailing mace of progress/death and Norsemen with calves like bowling balls stagger across fjords, their complexions suggesting they may not be getting their five a day. There are the obligatory fireside frottageings, but this is clever stuff, with complex characters, an atmosphere of thunderously oppressive gloom and dialogue that does not make one long to inter oneself, sobbing, in a flaming longship. The second adaptation of James Clavell's 1,100-page clomp through the late Sengoku period of feudal Japan, this US-produced saga leaves its beloved 1980 predecessor spluttering in its backwash, the latter's once sacrosanct USP (Richard Chamberlain blinking expressionlessly in a kimono) unable to compete with the former's rich, knotty script, riveting characterisation and steadfast attention to historical detail. Cue stoic samurai, scurvy-ridden sailors and preoccupied warlords in a succession of exquisitely indifferent terrains and everyone else sprinting for cover as the whole shebang is (justly) pelted with Emmys. Yes, the pace is slow, the sets perfunctory and the wigs apparently assembled from the contents of a vacuum cleaner. But still, 50 years on, the BBC's adaptation of Robert Graves' novels on the bastardry of the early Roman empire remains one of TV's finest achievements, with an unapologetically adult script and magnificent, pillar-rattling performances from John Hurt, Siân Phillips and Derek Jacobi, the last assisted by prosthetic makeup and a false nose that could dislodge the cobwebs from a triumphal arch. An object lesson, here, in how to deliver prestige historical drama without recourse to bums or bombast. Instead, there are exquisitely layered performances (Damian Lewis, Jonathan Pryce), quiet, adult explorations of difficult, adult things (grief, ageing) and many, many candlelit silences into which Mark Rylance's Thomas Cromwell glides, his expression, as always, that of a ferret saddened by developments in France. A monumental achievement, obviously, and in director Peter Kosminsksy and scriptwriter Peter Straughan's hands, a near-perfect adaptation of Hilary Mantel's three-piece masterpiece. Rome, 1492, and the Vatican is besieged by filth as director/co-creator Neil Jordan takes a stiff quill to non-secular skulduggery. Cue: tumescent priests, pouting strumpets and a never-wearier Jeremy Irons as Pope Shagger VI. Here, historical integrity is something to be bent over and humped, unconvincingly, behind a net curtain. The script? Pfft. The acting? Tsk. The plot? Possibly, although it's tricky to concentrate on the dynastic machinations of 15th century Italy when Irons in a mitre keeps shouting 'WHORE'. A catastrophic attempt by the BBC to replicate the success of I, Claudius by squeezing Grade II-listed hams into togas and forcing them to SHOUT at punishing length about the PTOLEMAIC DYNASTY in what appears to be an abandoned REGIONAL LEISURE CENTRE. The upshot? Tedium. Plus? Bald caps, flagrant boobery, Richard Griffiths 'working' a 'smoky eye', the line 'Let's get out of Egypt!' and trembling extras gulping in horror as the plot catapults yet another flaming ball of exposition at the studio floor. Manacled jocks go loincloth to loincloth in a US production comprised almost entirely of buttocks. There is, occasionally, other stuff: blood, knockers, airborne viscera, Americans in sandals decapitating other Americans while shouting 'ass', some 'plot' or other involving revenge, John Hannah (as dastardly slave trader Batiatus) bellowing 'BY JUPITER'S COCK!' at 30-second intervals etc. But it is mainly buttocks. Watch it on fast-forward and it's like being shot in the face by a pump-action bum-gun. One, two, swashbuckle my shoe: abject 'international co-production' tosh here from the Beeb as Alexandre Dumas's novels are reimagined for whichever generation it is that is supposed to be interested in this sort of thing. And lo, much adolescent tomfoolery doth ensue, with PG-rated punch-ups, tiresome hunks smirking in pleather and dialogue of the 'Things just got complicated!' genus. The result? Hollycloaks. Peter Capaldi does his best as Cardinal Richelieu but it would take more than thigh boots and nostril-flaring to lighten this particular load. Verily, my liege, this idiot Canadian-Irish co-production does dance a merry jig upon the very concept of historical accuracy, with its Irish Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), its ripped courtiers and Joss Stone as Anne of Cleves. There is the occasional grudging nod to Actual Historical Stuff (the Reformation, wives etc). But it's mostly just Henry banging his way around Tudor England, his bum cheeks jack-hammering with such ferocity that they are little more than a meaty blur, like a deli counter viewed from the top deck of a speeding bus in the rain. Chief of War is on Apple TV+ from 1 August.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV's best (and worst) historical epics: from Wolf Hall to I, Claudius:
Inflate thy balloons and unsheathe thy Party Rings, for here is Chief of War (Apple TV+) to remind us of the joy of the scowling historical epic. Here too, almost, is Battle of Hastings belter King & Conqueror (BBC, August). And Spartacus: House of Ashur (Starz, this winter). Also in the period-specific pipeline are second series for Disney+'s brilliant Shogun and Amazon Prime's terrible House of David. Historical epics, it would not be unreasonable to say, are everywhere. But which are the best and which should be catapulted, screaming, across a poorly rendered CGI battlefield? Given their abundance, some arbitrary judging criteria is clearly in order. Hence: no 'fantasy' nonsense (ie Game of Thrones) and nothing set after the early 1800s, the latter on the grounds that a) there are too many of the sods and b) Julian 'Downton Bloody Abbey' Fellowes has effectively tucked the era under his top hat and run off with it while honking like an overprivileged goose. Let battle commenceth… A barrel-chested wodge of Big History in which mountainous creator and co-writer Jason Momoa thunders through the based-on-true-events that led to the late 18th century unification and, ultimately, colonisation of his native Hawaii. And it's brilliant; from its predominantly Polynesian cast to the sense of doom that swirls perpetually around the scenic foothills of Mount Momoa. It may lean a touch too heavily on extended, subtitled brawls in which there is much [grunting], but this is heartfelt storytelling; as muscular and sincere as its loinclothed protagonist. Startlingly brutal middle ages od(in)yssey in which mud-caked peasants duck from the flailing mace of progress/death and Norsemen with calves like bowling balls stagger across fjords, their complexions suggesting they may not be getting their five a day. There are the obligatory fireside frottageings, but this is clever stuff, with complex characters, an atmosphere of thunderously oppressive gloom and dialogue that does not make one long to inter oneself, sobbing, in a flaming longship. The second adaptation of James Clavell's 1,100-page clomp through the late Sengoku period of feudal Japan, this US-produced saga leaves its beloved 1980 predecessor spluttering in its backwash, the latter's once sacrosanct USP (Richard Chamberlain blinking expressionlessly in a kimono) unable to compete with the former's rich, knotty script, riveting characterisation and steadfast attention to historical detail. Cue stoic samurai, scurvy-ridden sailors and preoccupied warlords in a succession of exquisitely indifferent terrains and everyone else sprinting for cover as the whole shebang is (justly) pelted with Emmys. Yes, the pace is slow, the sets perfunctory and the wigs apparently assembled from the contents of a vacuum cleaner. But still, 50 years on, the BBC's adaptation of Robert Graves' novels on the bastardry of the early Roman empire remains one of TV's finest achievements, with an unapologetically adult script and magnificent, pillar-rattling performances from John Hurt, Siân Phillips and Derek Jacobi, the last assisted by prosthetic makeup and a false nose that could dislodge the cobwebs from a triumphal arch. An object lesson, here, in how to deliver prestige historical drama without recourse to bums or bombast. Instead, there are exquisitely layered performances (Damian Lewis, Jonathan Pryce), quiet, adult explorations of difficult, adult things (grief, ageing) and many, many candlelit silences into which Mark Rylance's Thomas Cromwell glides, his expression, as always, that of a ferret saddened by developments in France. A monumental achievement, obviously, and in director Peter Kosminksy and scriptwriter Peter Straughan's hands, a near-perfect adaptation of Hilary Mantel's three-piece masterpiece. Rome, 1492, and the Vatican is besieged by filth as director/co-creator Neil Jordan takes a stiff quill to non-secular skulduggery. Cue: tumescent priests, pouting strumpets and a never-wearier Jeremy Irons as Pope Shagger VI. Here, historical integrity is something to be bent over and humped, unconvincingly, behind a net curtain. The script? Pfft. The acting? Tsk. The plot? Possibly, although it's tricky to concentrate on the dynastic machinations of 15th century Italy when Irons in a mitre keeps shouting 'WHORE'. A catastrophic attempt by the BBC to replicate the success of I, Claudius by squeezing Grade II-listed hams into togas and forcing them to SHOUT at punishing length about the PTOLEMAIC DYNASTY in what appears to be an abandoned REGIONAL LEISURE CENTRE. The upshot? Tedium. Plus? Bald caps, flagrant boobery, Richard Griffiths 'working' a 'smoky eye', the line 'Let's get out of Egypt!' and trembling extras gulping in horror as the plot catapults yet another flaming ball of exposition at the studio floor. Manacled jocks go loincloth to loincloth in a US production comprised almost entirely of buttocks. There is, occasionally, other stuff: blood, knockers, airborne viscera, Americans in sandals decapitating other Americans while shouting 'ass', some 'plot' or other involving revenge, John Hannah (as dastardly slave trader Batiatus) bellowing 'BY JUPITER'S COCK!' at 30-second intervals etc. But it is mainly buttocks. Watch it on fast-forward and it's like being shot in the face by a pump-action bum-gun. One, two, swashbuckle my shoe: abject 'international co-production' tosh here from the Beeb as Alexandre Dumas's novels are reimagined for whichever generation it is that is supposed to be interested in this sort of thing. And lo, much adolescent tomfoolery doth ensue, with PG-rated punch-ups, tiresome hunks smirking in pleather and dialogue of the 'Things just got complicated!' genus. The result? Hollycloaks. Peter Capaldi does his best as Cardinal Richelieu but it would take more than thigh boots and nostril-flaring to lighten this particular load. Verily, my liege, this idiot Canadian-Irish co-production does dance a merry jig upon the very concept of historical accuracy, with its Irish Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), its ripped courtiers and Joss Stone as Anne of Cleves. There is the occasional grudging nod to Actual Historical Stuff (the Reformation, wives etc). But it's mostly just Henry banging his way around Tudor England, his bum cheeks jack-hammering with such ferocity that they are little more than a meaty blur, like a deli counter viewed from the top deck of a speeding bus in the rain. Chief of War is on Apple TV+ from 1 August.
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Game of Thrones star joins 'promising' new historical BBC drama opposite James Norton
The BBC has unveiled a sneak peek at the forthcoming historical drama King and Conqueror, set to broadcast next month. The series, formerly known as 1066, will see the pair battle for the throne alongside their respective wives. The teaser features James Norton in the role of Harold, Earl of Wessex, while Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, known for Game of Thrones, plays William, Duke of Normandy. The drama will depict the duo's struggle for the throne, alongside their respective wives, Edith Swan-neck (Emily Beecham) and Matilda (Clémence Poésy). The trailer also introduces allies and foes such as King Edward (Eddie Marsan), Lady Emma (Juliet Stevenson), Morcar (Elander Moore), Gytha (Clare Holman), Tostig (Luther Ford), Queen Gunhild (Bo Bragason) and Godwin (Geoff Bell). King and Conqueror tells the tale of a conflict that shaped the destiny of a nation – and a continent – for a millennium, with roots reaching back decades and extending through two intertwined family dynasties, vying for power across two countries and a turbulent sea, reports the Mirror. Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy were two men fated to clash at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; two allies with no initial ambition for the English throne, who found themselves compelled by circumstance and personal obsession into a war for its crown. The programme consists of eight hour-long episodes and will also feature Jean-Marc Barr as King Henry, Elliott Cowan as Sweyn, Bjarne Henriksen as Earl Siward, Oliver Masucci as Baldwin, Indy Lewis as Margaret, Jason Forbes as Thane Thomas, Ingvar Sigurdsson as Fitzosbern, Ines Asserson as Judith, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson as Hardrada and Léo Legrand as Odo. Fresh promotional artwork for the drama presents a monochrome portrait of Harold with a resolute expression whilst William looms behind him, ready for combat. BBC audiences were swift to react to the programme's preview, with one commenting: "I hope they include the part where William had Harold buried on the beach, to guard the English shore.'I always found that quite touching, like a mark of his respect for such a great warrior." Another contributed: "The story of William the Conqueror; updated for a modern audience," whilst a third wrote: "Bout damn time they dropped this trailer. They been talking about this show for a year and a half." Someone else remarked: "Hopefully, this show will fulfill how I missed Vikings," as another contributed: "First i have heard of this but it seems really promising."
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
James Norton goes head to head with Game of Thrones star in epic BBC drama
James Norton will star opposite Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in new BBC drama King & Conqueror The BBC has revealed a first look at upcoming historical drama King & Conqueror, which is set to air next month. In the teaser, James Norton stars as Harold, Earl of Wessex, while Game of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau portrays William, Duke of Normandy. The drama will see the pair battle for the throne alongside their respective wives, Edith Swan-neck (Emily Beecham) and Matilda (Clémence Poésy). The trailer also features allies and enemies such as King Edward (Eddie Marsan), Lady Emma (Juliet Stevenson), Morcar (Elander Moore), Gytha (Clare Holman), Tostig (Luther Ford), Queen Gunhild (Bo Bragason) and Godwin (Geoff Bell). King & Conqueror is the story of a clash that defined the future of a country – and a continent – for a thousand years, the roots of which stretch back decades and extend out through a pair of interconnected family dynasties, struggling for power across two countries and a raging sea. Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy were two men destined to meet at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; two allies with no design on the English throne, who found themselves forced by circumstance and personal obsession into a war for possession of its crown. The series is made up of eight 60 minute episodes and will also star Jean-Marc Barr as King Henry, Elliott Cowan as Sweyn, Bjarne Henriksen as Earl Siward, Oliver Masucci as Baldwin, Indy Lewis as Margaret, Jason Forbes as Thane Thomas, Ingvar Sigurdsson as Fitzosbern, Ines Asserson as Judith, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson as Hardrada and Léo Legrand as Odo. New key art for the series shows a black and white image of Harold with a determined look on his face while William stands behind him, poised for battle. BBC viewers were quick to comment on the teaser for the series, with one writing: "I hope they include the part where William had Harold buried on the beach, to guard the English shore. 'I always found that quite touching, like a mark of his respect for such a great warrior." Another added: "The story of William the Conqueror; updated for a modern audience," while a third penned: "Bout damn time they dropped this trailer. They been talking about this show for a year and a half." Someone else shared: "Hopefully, this show will fulfill how I missed Vikings," as another added: "First i have heard of this but it seems really promising."
UPI
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Watch: BBC releases trailer for Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's 'King & Conqueror'
1 of 2 | A trailer for the BBC miniseries "King & Conqueror," starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, was released on Thursday. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo July 24 (UPI) -- The BBC released a trailer Thursday for King & Conqueror, an eight-part drama starring Game of Thrones alum Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Granchester actor James Norton. The British broadcaster expects to air the historical epic on BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this year. The cast also includes Emily Beecham, Clémence Poésy, Eddie Marsan, Elliott Cowan and Juliet Stevenson. "King & Conqueror is the story of a clash that defined the future of a country -- and a continent -- for 1,000 years, the roots of which stretch back decades and extend out through a pair of interconnected family dynasties, struggling for power across two countries and a raging sea," a synopsis for the series said. "Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy were two men destined to meet at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; two allies with no design on the English throne, who found themselves forced by circumstance and personal obsession into a war for possession of its crown."
