The Devil's Crown

I watched this on live TV back in the 1970s - remember those days? Yes we had to stay in to watch it each week.

It has taken root in my memories for many reasons.

The acting was compelling. All the main characters were exceptional. History was brought vividly to life and my passion for The Plantagenets began.

I can hardly believe that 4+ decades later I'm still searching for it!! Come on BBC - how can we get to see it.

Many of the actors became my favourites! I remember writing a fan letter to the magnificent Michael Byrne and receiving a delightful message and signed photograph in the post. I still watch him wherever I see him and still get just as swept up in his performances as when I was that 20-year old.

Loved him through all his incarnations.

Please, someone tell me how we can watch this again?

I had never heard of this series and found it by accident as a suggestion after watching 'The Accursed Kings' on a streaming service which I will not name in case the series is blocked before I can rewatch it. The series is not for bingeing! It needs to be watched slowly to give each episode time to sink in. As I need captions due to hearing loss, I took off one star for the inferior automatic captions which seemed to be translating a different show at times.

I won't go into the 'plot' as anyone who has studied history, Shakespeare and countless dramas of the Platangenets will be well familiar with the events. I have to praise the brilliant originality of the sets, which I dismissed at first as too theatrical with backgrounds on the level of the school play, but as I watched more, I realised that the stageiness and painted backdrops were intended to evoke a medieaval manuscript, and it worked beautifully, especially on the small screens of the time. Confining the action to a very small area also made it more immediate and drew in the audience as if we were eavesdropping. Sometimes a scene would begin as an illustration with an illuminated frame around the edge, then as the camera zoomed in the figures would begin to move and we would be drawn into the scene. This worked very effectively in the representations of battles as set pieces. When three European monarchs were discussing the fate of Richard the Lionheart who had been captured in Austria despite the free passage guaranteed by the church to Crusaders, they were seated on their thrones side by side in the flat manner of paintings of the time. I could watch it all again for the sets alone. The sets were no loss effective for being 'budget' but showed how much originality can flourish when forced to economise.

My only other complaint ( losing one star) was not with the series itself, but with the quality of the recording currently shown on TV. In 1978, the BBC and ITV were producing some fine dramas such as I Claudius and Fall of Eagles, with sharp clear definition. The Devil's Crown appears to be from a French copy. This may be exactly what it is and the original may have been destroyed as the BBC tended to reuse video tape. I did hear that the series was thought to be lost for many years, so what has turned up may well be a copy made by a viewer. What is needed especially in this time of production halted due to the pandemic, is for a cleaned up restored copy with new captioning or subtitles with which we could sit by the fire and watch a DVD. Games of Thrones fans would have a field day seeing the real stuff.

I recall this as a serial on BBC2, which was (is?) the more highbrow of the two BBC channels available in 1978. It whetted my appetite for history, which as a boy I hated. I too Googled it hoping for a DVD set, not even a Region 2 one (I live in America now, but I have the means). If it ever comes out, here is what to expect:

An accurate historical dramatisation, not just a showcase for actors (though they give an excellent performance). Dates are shown at the bottom of the screen, so you can keep track of when this all happened. (I don't think I have ever seen that before except in documentaries, and this was not broadcast as a documentary).

There is a book (published by the BBC to go with the serial), by Richard Barber. If you can find a copy, this is an excellent companion that includes discussions on motives and factual uncertainties, and has maps, eg the Third Crusade and the Angevin domains in England and Europe.

The only "problem" with all this is that has the look of a "budget" production. But the acting and the content and authenticity are what make it! It might not work in America however, though the period 1133-1216 is part of America's history due to the migration of Europeans. I will definitely buy the DVD set if is issued!

I enjoyed this drama so much that here I am today doing a google search on it, just in case it's available on video (apparently not, dammit!). John Duttine and Jane Lapotaire in particular are just plain stunning in this production. Brian Cox also made a big impression. The set decoration also sticks in my mind. At times it seemed as if the actors had been transplanted to some medieval painting. Why on earth "Masterpiece Theater" has never showed this one in the USA is beyond me. If you are stuck with the Walter Scott or Legends of Robin Hood version of King Richard vs King John, prepare to have your preconceptions shattered here. Richard is shown as profligate and vain, while John is more sympathetically portrayed than you will ever see elsewhere.

Excellent television, of a type they will never make again. Unlike the tedious backdrops and effects of today, the sets are built like a play; whimsical and appreciative; nothing to detract from the extraordinary performances on display. Brian Cox plays a convincing Henry II - tough, outrageous, red-haired; he betrays Henry's viking roots. Jane Lapotaire plays his wife and Michael Byrne their son Richard - both are stand-outs, as are their characters. The writing is v remarkable. As memory serves, it is more about clever dialogue set-pieces more than narrative thrust (much like a play). The story is of the three Angevin Kings of England - Henry, Richard and John - and their domestic altercations that leads inevitably and casually into endemic armed conflict. They fact we never see these battles, and only a few of its participants, makes it feel even more fittingly morbid. Many of the nuances of feudalism are present: all the England crown's lands in France are under the overlordship of the 'King of the Franks' whose alternating friendship and hostility with these Norman kings and counts adds another layer of historical social structure to the scenario. It seems to be very risque for the era, though this may be my limited experience with series from that time, what with being born a latter day millennial. There is a fair amount of nudity and sexual references.