19th June 2013
Review written by Michael Moran
Taken from lady.co.uk
Devotees of Sky
Atlantic’s Game of Thrones will feel a certain sense of déja vu as they settle
down to watch The White Queen (BBC One, Sunday at 9pm). That’s no great
surprise. George RR Martin has often said that his fiercely fruity fantasy
fable is at least in part informed by the ferocious family feud that flared up
in England on and off throughout the second half of the 1400s.
The White Queen isn’t quite as brutal as
its parallel-universe cousin. And not quite as mucky, although there is one
moment where you think things are going in that direction.
What it is, though, is gorgeous.
Beautifully shot, with some lovely costumes and a cast that’s distinctly easy
on the eye. The White Queen shows us the pretty side of late medieval England,
with nary a wart nor a fleck of mud to be seen.
Despite that, and despite the somewhat
fanciful supernatural beliefs of the characters, this adaptation of Philippa
Gregory’s historical novel is quite matter of fact in its portrayal of
pre-Renaissance realpolitik.
Episode one revolves around the meeting of
Edward IV (played by future heart-throb Max Irons) and the (comparative)
commoner Elizabeth Woodville. Edward is quite the ladies’ man, while Elizabeth
(Swedish import Rebecca Ferguson) is determined to preserve her virtue and good
name. Throw in the machinations of (pre- Machiavellian) kingmaker Richard
Neville, the Earl of Warwick (James Frain from the not dissimilar The Tudors)
and you have a recipe for an epic highstakes game of thrones.
Ferguson is luminously convincing as the
most beautiful woman of her time. You can see why the king might be besotted by
her. But the romance receives a mixed reception among Elizabeth’s family, who
until recently were on the ‘wrong’ side in that internecine conflict.
One family member who’s all for it is
Elizabeth’s mother. Jacquetta (played by Janet McTeer, who you might remember
from Parade’s End) is a selfstyled sorceress who sees in the blossoming love
affair a chance at high office for her family.
But arrayed against the lovers is a
formidable set of opponents. Not just Warwick but staunchly loyal Lancastrian
Margaret Beaufort (Amanda Hale from The Crimson Petal and the White), a
religious fanatic who will do whatever it takes to secure the throne for her
young son, Henry Tudor.
It helps if you know all the history, if
only to keep track of which implausibly handsome young man is which, but The White
Queen works perfectly well, even if you haven’t taken a panicky peek at
Wikipedia as the title sequence is rolling.
As a tough, grown-up drama The White Queen
would be solid entertainment even if it were complete fiction. The fact that
it’s a pivotal, and rarely told, story from our history makes it essential
viewing.
Image: Rebecca Ferguson as Elizabeth Woodville