Gunpowder, Treason And Plot Reviews

Worth a look

If you missed it on TV the first time, it’s well worth a look now. Carlyle is impressive, although you do keep expecting Edmund Blackadder to appear over the horizon!

50/50

As I am working my way through some historical dramas and films I thought I'd give this one a go.

It is divided into two with the first episode following Mary Queen of Scots and the second, her son, King James I.

I wasn't overly impressed by James' story. I personally found it rather dull and it dragged on. I didn't empathise with any character so couldn't engage with the action.

The first part on Mary though was fantastic. I felt for her as she tried to rule a country as the 'wrong' sex and the 'wrong' religion. As mentioned in other reviews Kevin McKidd really steals the show with a passionate and brooding portrayal of the loyal Bothwell.

Don't expect anything out of this world but I have found worse ways of spending a couple of hours.

Great!

Well worth a watch and a great entertaining history lesson. They should make a big film about this

brilliant

robert at his best, a very very good film and good acting well done

High drama at an exciting pace

Very exciting and full of drama. Gave me a whole new perspective on the early Jacobean era.

Great TV movie

If only TV movies were all this good. I personally found it educational as well as entertaining.

Enjoyable production

The second part of this production was more interesting than the first, but the bbc once again produced a high quality period drama.

[Highly rated reviewer]

A great made for tv mafia on horseback romp.

I missed this when it was shown on tv so decided to rent it out on DVD. I wasn't disappointed. Jimmy McGovern's script was brilliant. Whether he had his facts correct, historically, for me was immaterial throughout this enjoyable period romp set in Elizabethan times. It was well acted, brilliantly photographed and for me a real treat compared to some of the American rubbish that passes off for factual lessons in British history.

There is no doubt, looking at the behaviour of our kings and queens, how the mafiosa got their methods of defending their turf.

Customer Review

This two part film for television gives an overview of the dramatic lives of two Monarch's Mary Queen of Scots and her son James VI of Scotland. The first part follows Mary's troubled life in trying to govern a very divided Scotland. Acting is impressive and mostly convincing. This fades a bit in the second part where the characterisation of the people involved in the gunpowder plot are hard to believe. I knew quite a bit more about the lives of the plotters before seeing this than I did about the characters surrounding Mary Queen of Scots so perhaps this is why I found the story much less enjoyable. Some of the historic facts are just so wrong as to overshadow the storyline, for example the outcome of Francis Tresham's life was quite different to that given in the film. There is also an inconsistency in the portrayal of just about all the main figures, who are correctly portrayed as willing to die for their faith but they then take their faith so lightly in relation to murder and marital fidelity. The scope of the film is massively ambitious and therefore it is difficult to give any depth to this remarkable period in time. But the series is worth watching and might encourage viewers to follow it up with a read of Antonia Fraser's excellent biographies of the same period.

Customer Review

i found the whole story very dull; nothing new happened. Although there was plenty of plotting and treason. it could be re-named to avoid viewers who forget the synopsis that it isn't about Guy Fawkes. having said that the acting was very good and the location, props etc interesting to see. but not a DVD i would buy or recommend.