Mostly ramblings on historical dramas and some links and pics.

[magog_83]

Hello hello hello!!

I have missed LJ this past week :) This is going to be a bit of a mish-mash of a post I'm afraid.

First of all I have some apologies to make. To wolfangeldeath whose birthday it was yesterday (happy belated birthday!), and to whom I promised I would try to write some Percy. As you can see, I didn't manage it :( But I do still intend to, this past couple of weeks have just been a bit mad. I've started a new volunteering placement and have been working a lot and not writing much at all. I should also apologise to all those following School Nemeses, I've had a flurry of extra comments recently and a new chapter is long overdue. I have two more chapters written, I'm just feeling a bit wobbly over them at the moment :/

In other news, I have a couple of links and some randomness about historical dramas I have loved (and the famous people they starred, such as Johnny Lee Miller, Michael Fassbender and Sean Bean).

2000 year old Greek God mosaic discovered in Roman cellar

Juicy details & pics of Downton Abbey, series two! (ITV period drama)

CUTE BABY OWL. Keep watching until 0.50 for bonus adorable head scritching. TOO CUTE. :D

Now... onto historical dramas that are Awesome.

I've been dying to watch The Devil's Whore again recently and so I ordered it online and THEN discovered it is on Channel 4's website to watch again (see HERE if you live in the UK and would like to watch it). For those who haven't heard of it, it's a four part drama set in the seventeenth century and following the fortunes of Angelica Fanshawe, played by the beautiful Andrea Riseborough, as she struggles through the English Civil War and the upheavals that come after. It also stars John Simm, Dominic West and Michael Fassbender.







I found it utterly fascinating because not only is Angelica a strong and interesting heroine who gradually learns to use her brain and confronts the hypocrisy she finds around her, but it also manages to introduce you to a lot of historical events without ever turning into a history lesson. Angelica starts off a young noble born bride, then she witnesses the fall of King Charles I, meets leading levellers Thomas Rainsborough (Michael Fassbender, who she falls in love with and marries) and John Lilburne, as well as Oliver Cromwell (Dominic West) and all the while she is helped by Edward Sexby (John Simm).

ETA: AHAHAHA ALSO EPISODE TWO FEATURES DANIEL RYAN, JETHRO'S (COLIN'S) DAD IN 'MIDNIGHT' #whenfandomscollide

Anyway, that got me thinking of other historical dramas I've really enjoyed, not based on novels as such, but rather ones based around real historical people and events.

One of my favourites in Cadfael, based on the books by Ellis Peters. They follow the adventures of Brother Cadfael, a Welsh monk at the Benedictine Abbey of Shrewsbury who solves crimes. NO WAIT, COME BACK. It really is brilliant! Not only are the mysteries clever and exciting, but it's also set during the civil war of the twelfth century between King Stephen and Empress Maud and so has loads of historical detail and references to wider events.

Also, it stars SIR DEREK JACOBI as Cadfael in the tv adaptations.

Yes, I own the complete 4 series on dvd - what of it?

Cadfael also stars a young Johnny Lee Miller and his Mullet.

Shockingly, the Mullet was not found guilty of any crime.

I also used to love watching Sharpe, set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on the novels of Bernard Cornwell. It starred Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe.

I think it was the rigorous attention to historical detail that attracted me to the show

And then of course there were all my Tudor dramas, particularly concerning Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I. My favourite ever Anne Boleyn dramatisation was Dorothy Tutin in the 1970s BBC mini series of filmed plays, The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

I couldn't embed it, but there's a clip of it here: Anne Boleyn talks to Cranmer in the Tower (skip over the Thomas Cromwell scenes at the start).

More recently, I absolutely LOVED Anne Marie Duff in The Virgin Queen, far and away the best Elizabethan drama since Glenda Jackson in Elizabeth R.



What historical dramas do you guys like? My list is obviously Anglo-centric, but I'd been very interested to hear of examples from elsewhere! I've watched a few from elsewhere in Europe especially that I've really enjoyed, La Reine Margot, Sophie Scholl, The Lives of Others, Los Borgia etc :)

Comments

[jamie15.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'm so excited about series 2 of Downton Abbey! Looks like it's going just as wonderful as the first one, judging by the pics and the tiny spoilers :)! (Also, this line just killed me: Dame Maggie/Professor Minerva McBadass as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham :)! Sooo true!)

Shockingly, the Mullet was not found guilty of any crime.

You mean except for existing? The punishment fort that is, I believe, a haircut.

And finally, that owl is too cute! Watching this video was probably my Moment of Mushisness this week :)!

Well, except for this one maybe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlMSSRweLWM&feature=fvst

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHA THE PANDA JUMPS SO HARD!

Also, that description is hilarious, and completely fits the national treasure that is Dame Maggie :D :D

I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed series one of Downton, I wasn't expecting much from ITV but it was excellent, and I loved the younger rebellious sister, Sybil, she was especially brilliant!

I forgot that you asked me ages ago if I was still writing JE and I forgot to answer properly. I am still writing it, it's just reached 70k and Mr Mason has just been attacked by Bertha! DRAMA-RAMA.

[jamie15.livejournal.com]

I KNOW! The poor panda looks like it's about to suffer a heart attack to be honest! And then it just sort of turns and looks into the camera rather baffled, holding it's snack xD!

I just love Maggie Smith! She is such a brilliant actress! In fact I think one of my favourite scenes in HP 7 part 2 is one with her - do you remember the part where she makes the statues come to life with this really awesome spell and then goes "I've ALWAYS wanted to do that!" That just killed me :D!

To be honest, I was rather surprised as well when I learned that it was an ITV production - because, considering what I see on ITV on a daily basis it doesn't look like they produce high-quality programmes regularly ...

70k?! WOW! I'm so looking forward to reading this :D! And you've only just reached Mr. Mason being attacked? I sense a fandom classic on its way ... :D But so you've decided to keep Bertha as Bertha now?

Also, on an unrelated sidenote: I think lj is fast becoming too complicated for me - have you seen with how many different things you can leave comments since recently? Now there's not only facebook, lj and OpenID but tons of other stuff as well O.o!

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say fandom classic, it's too slow moving for that! Yes, I have decided to keep Bertha. I like that I can make up the background story for her and not have any preconceptions. She's even more of a sad figure in mine, I think, than in the novel. Also, she's provides a parallel for Morgana later, in a way :)

It is stupidly long though. It takes over 10k for Arthur and Merlin to meet. But I fell in love with Will and couldn't kill him off without showing his and Merlin's friendship. Then there are lots of random extra scenes I have put in and little Mordred and banter and Merlin's Inner Thoughts.

Downton Abbey is about the best thing on ITV, they've thrown tons of money at it. Everyone calls it a BBC drama anyway, which must be very annoying!!

[jamie15.livejournal.com]

I mean, I'm horrible at estimating, but I think it does take about 10k for Jane and Mr. Rochester to meet in the book as well - so you should be fine really :)! And yay for Merlin and Will friendship - I think people are going to love you for that! (And even if people won't - I will! :D)

Very interested in Merlin's Inner Thoughts, of course ... although you just gave me a flash back to my anime fan days and now I think I need to go and see if Naruto has finally come to an end ... (yes, I am quite a geek at heart :D!)

It definitely must be very annoying! All that hard work and it gets credited to the BBC! It's bad enough that nobody would watch the Royal Wedding on ITV and they lost to the BBC!

It's seriously good though!

And yes, I can understand that fear very well - I like to keep my "real life" and my "online life" separate as well. It just gives me a way of ... venting I guess, and of indulging in fandom. I'd be hopelessly embarrassed if any of my school friends got to read what I write on lj ...

Facebook and lj do not mix - period.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

Also, to that last bit, I live in constant fear of accidentally cross-posting to facebook or somewhere! I do NOT want people I went to school with knowing about fandom.