Charles II The Power and the Passion

With American drama laughing in the face of lame UK attempts, its nice to find something British that’s rather bloody good.

Plundering history once again, this time the early days of Charles II’s reign, we find a rich story with enough scandal and backstabbing to fill the four hour long episodes.

Playing the lead is an initially surprising choice, Rufus Sewell, but he quickly discounts your fear. Owning the screen and role, he drags you along for the ride, and ably assisted by the ever watchable Rupert Graves, allow you access to a part of history that might have escaped your school lessons. If it did, then it’s a real shame, as the period was rich with activity and characters.

Despite the confines of a television budget, the production makes the most of what they have, and in particular some of the direction is imaginative and skillful. Simple things blind side you, and that’s all for the better in an industry with so many old hands shooting everything in the same boring style, for example, one shot is on the brow of a hill, we hear horses approaching… Normally, the horses would come over the brow of course, but here they explode from the side of frame and travel across the screen. Might not sound much, but it’s very effective without spending anymore money on the shot. Take note all those who churn out The Bill and Ross Kemp dramas.

Well worth watching, and probably owning for the quality of the production, and certainly better than the recent Gunpowder, Treason and Plot with Robert Carlyle.