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

[overtsock.livejournal.com]

KLJNFSKJDFN THE OWL.

I am weirdly obsessed with owls...have been since I was little. I blame it on my grandmother, who was also owl-obsessed, and all the little owl figurines she had around. They're...a hoot! /terrible pun.

I think I would enjoy all these movies, but I haven't seen any of them! *adds to list* Who doesn't love a historical drama? I know your perception of me is as someone who is very strict about historical accuracy (HAHA PSYCH), but I also enjoy The Tudors so...yeah.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

That is a terrible terrible pun. FEEL VERY ASHAMED. :D :D :D

I did watch some of the Tudors, especially the Anne Boleyn stuff as she is one of my favourite historical figures. I enjoyed it more than I expected to! I think I only started getting disturbed by it when I saw some of the youtube video comments where people were getting into passionate debates about whether Princess Mary should have been allowed to marry that Lutheran prince and acting like it really happened. Then I was a bit O_O

Natalie Dormer was brilliant though <3