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Various portrayals of the legendary pirate, Blackbeard, have varied wildly in how they depict him. Black Sails portrays the most accurate and fearsome version of Blackbeard, staying close to historical accuracy. Blackbeard: Terror at Sea is one of the best adaptations, focusing on historical accuracy and featuring narration from historians.

Blackbeard the Pirate has been seen in many movies and television shows over the years, but some of the media that portrays him have done it better than others. Born Edward Teach in 1680, Blackbeard was a feared pirate in the Caribbean during the 18th century. He married over 14 times during his life and eventually ran his ships aground, including the famous Queen Anne's Revenge, during a battle. He was eventually caught and killed in an attack in 1718, with his head later being fixed on a pike and shown off to scare other pirates (via Amherst College).

As one of the world's most famous pirates,...

James Purefoy has admitted that he was pleased to play a "subtle" role in new ITV1 drama Injustice. The actor told TV Choice that he was becoming frustrated, having played a series of "big" characters. Purefoy explained: "I have not done anything like this for a long time. I played Mark Antony in [HBO drama] Rome, Solomon Kane [in the film of the same name], Blackbeard [in a 2006 TV movie]. "Those are all big, grandstand men [and] this is a much more subtle part (more)...

Solomon Kane starts out reasonably enough. Within the first ten minutes there’s a naval battle, haunted mirrors and James Purefoy, snarling like a lunatic. It’s daft and makes very little sense, but it’s also fun, that peaks just before the opening credits, with Purefoy’s Kane leaping through a window to escape being dragged to the depths of hell.

Unfortunately, post credits the film takes a severe downturn. To

avoid his infernal fate, Kane has renounced violence and found God. He’s also become one of the most tedious characters ever committed to celluloid.

For the next ninety minutes Kane mopes around a fictionalised England, where towns are adorned with hanged corpses, and witch-burnings are a fun spectator sport. This basic idea could actually have worked, even taking into account the fact that the baddies are essentially cast-offs from Lord of the Rings, but writer/director, Michael J Bassett,...