Gunpowder

Pretty good actors doing a decent enough job-but it is a very uninspired telling of a quite interesting and exciting true story. If you never see it, you aren't really missing out on anything.

The BBC do love a costume drama. They've been doing them since the dawn of television and to be fair on the whole they do them very well. Whilst Gunpowder may not reach the heights of some of the corporations finest work, it's still a well made combination of historical facts with some nice early 17th century scenes of brutal torture, death and violence. Kit Harrington excels as the plot mastermind Robert Catesby and Tom Cullen tries his best to be Tom Hardy as the menacing Guy Fawkes. Overall a well made well acted piece which at three episodes does not outstay it's welcome. Unlike those who let off fireworks beyond the date this show is based on!

This three-part BBC dramatisation of the events surrounding the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was something of a mixed bag. There was the expected attention to period detail in the sets and costumes and the acting too was good in almost every major part. However, historical accuracy was blown to smithereens in places and other aspects of the story were undoubtedly "sexed up" to make for presumably more exciting viewing in this day and age.

It was also a tough watch at times with graphic depictions of torture and execution, the latter in particular where in the first episode we see a middle-aged Catholic woman stripped naked and agonisingly crushed to death followed by a young priest hung, drawn and quartered, his entrails ripped from his still-living body, before his beheading and his severed head is stuck on a pike put on public display. All of this before a baying, bloodthirsty crowd of supposedly ordinary people.

The story centres on young Catholic nobleman Robert Catesby who becomes the centre of a Popish plot to strike back against the ever more repressive anti-Catholic legislation put before King James by his first lieutenant, the hunch-backed Robert Cecil and his hired muscle in the person of Sir William Wade. With his cohorts, Catesby, after failing to get support abroad for his plans, hatches the famous gunpowder plot to blow up the king and his ministers on the opening of Parliament which sees him meet up with one Guy Fawkes, a cold-bloodedly determined confederate.

Kit Harington, whose very name seems apt for the time portrayed, plays Catesby as the determined handsome hero, prepared to martyr himself to the cause. Peter Mullen is the priest whose commitment to the cause is racked by self-doubt but who in the end, inspired by Catesby's example, finds his own inner courage to match his convictions. Mark Gatiss plays the ruthless, scheming Cecil as almost a pantomime villain with Shaun Dooley more impressive as the brutal Wade, happy to follow orders no matter how violent they are. King James's homosexual tendencies are rather unsubtly highlighted as he plays up to his young lover at court, before his narrow escape frightens him back to his queen.

To me though the story was over-egged in that for example, nowhere have I read of Catesby freeing another young Catholic priest from the Tower Of London, shown here in almost medieval "Mission Impossible" style and as for the last stand of Catesby and his followers, his "Butch Cassidy" - type slow motion death seemed likewise over the top.

I just think that historically important stories like this should pay more attention to the truth and not make so many concessions to an audience it thinks needs cliff-hanging thrills and contrived action sequences in the name of entertainment. The Gunpowder Plot was a pivotal moment in British history and I think deserved a more factual retelling than it got here, no matter how well acted and re-enacted it otherwise was.

...so it's a refreshing change to see the losers having their say.

"Gunpowder" was made to tell the story about the real leader behind the gunpowder plot, Robert Catesby. He is played by Kit Harington, a descendant of Catesby.

More interesting than Catesby or Fawkes are the hunchback Lord Robert Cecil (Mark Gatiss) and his father William. They ran England as a police state during the reigns of Elizabeth I and King James I. They used a network of censors, spies, propagandists and spin doctors who were so successful in spin that some people still peddle it in the 21st century. The British constitution still bans the Head of State being a Roman Catholic.

The Cecil's set the template for authoritarian police states, communist and fascist. We can see their methods to this day in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. "Gunpowder" is really their story.

Love historical period dramas, and BBC have shown numerous times that they can be very good at them, a particularly note-worthy recent example being 'Wolf Hall'. The story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot is a very interesting part of history, something that was appreciated more by me once learning of the significance of the annual Bonfire Night.

'Gunpowder' is not BBC at their best though. It is interesting enough and there are a lot of good elements here (far more so than has been credit for by some reviewers), but it could have been much more explosive than it actually turned out to be. The criticisms are understandable, though the purported anti-Catholicism and propaganda ones for my tastes have been blown out of proportion.

Starting with the good things, the best thing about 'Gunpowder' is the production values. They are nothing short of splendid, especially the sumptuous costumes and atmospheric scenery/set design that actually give the feel of the viewer being transported to the early 17th century and being there as unseen observers. The music doesn't intrude but has presence and atmosphere.

Parts of the script do intrigue and provoke thought and the storytelling does have compelling and suspenseful moments. The violence and executions are harrowing and are not for the faint hearted, but that would have been the case at the time because executions were brutal then, even more so than depicted.

Mostly the acting is fine, especially from charismatic Tom Cullen, dignified Liv Tyler (who is not as out of place as one would think) and Shaun Dooley enjoying himself.

Kit Harrington and Mark Gatiss are a little more uneven but do have impressive moments. Harrington is a little flat at first but once the character grows so does his acting to something more brooding. Gatiss is too cartoonish in places, but at other times he is quite creepy.

However, the script does feel underdeveloped and tonally unbalanced, both too bland and too broad. It also too talky, Episode 2 especially is too heavy in talk and rambles, and it does affect the pacing which can be dull.

Characterisation is also not as rich as it could have been, too many of the characters are too one-dimensional and one doesn't really get to know them. The storytelling has some harrowing, exciting and suspenseful moments, but they could have come more consistently, the tone could have been more balanced and even and the pace and script could have been far tighter. Some parts seemed a bit too neat and clean.

Historical inaccuracy has also been a criticism directed at 'Gunpowder'. Actually try to avoid that criticism if it can be helped, but it is hard to ignore it here when it is a significant historical event.

Overall, interesting and has impressive elements but doesn't explode enough. Just my very humble and respectful take. 6/10 Bethany Cox