Catherine the Great

Catherine was in her late 30s when the drama starts, and Helen is in her 70s... so it is a little bit, strange. The history is poorly reconstructed and it lacks enthusiasm and the Russian carisma. I was expecting more...

Having seen the Russian series Ekaterina (2014), I was completely disappointed by this one. They don't come even close to the historic reality, or the deeper sense of the life of this great woman.

No vote. Just pity.

I leave to others to pour over the historical innacuracies or the fact that was Helen Mirren to old to play Catherine over a 20 year period. My initial view was that the sets, the scenes , the costumes were simply stunning, held together iby a bravura performance from Helen Mirren - although the story & script were a bit dull. However, after I'd seen all the episodes, I felt the limited story flowed well, that Jason Clarke and others acted immpecably. Yet Helen Mirren was magnificent , a delightful blend of duty, love, and preserving the Russian Legacy. Surely an Emmy awaits her performance in this. If you find it boring , stick with it & the performances will carry you through. Not a classic but a very good attempt.

Hugely disappointed . Amazing costumes and sets but script was slow , too much debauchary and not enough factual history . Jason Clarke looked uncomfortable and Dame Helen was the wrong choice for the part in my opinion

Was so looking forward to this, as Russian historical dramas are hard to come by. Helen Mirren is of course stellar (as is Rory Kinnear) but its let down by the need to have unrelated/ unnecessary vulgarity that doesn't progress the plot and comes across as unintentionally funny.

The Russo-Turkish War is merely a generic background war, Catherine's enlightenment and progression barely touched on. I echo others in these reviews that are underwhelmed and disappointed.

My advice is to avoid and watch the 2015 Russiabn series "Ekaterina: The Rise of Catherine the Great" currently on Amazon Prime