TV Review: Gunpowder (2017)

 Gunpowder (2017) created by Ronan Bennett, Kit Harington, and James West

The persecution of Catholics in England only gets worse after the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. James I of England (who was James VI of Scotland;  played by Derek Riddell) takes the throne and, while he wants peace in his kingdom, he lets his underlings have more or less free rein. Lord Robert Cecil (Mark Gatiss) wants to wipe out Catholics on the British Isles and uses an extensive spy network to gather evidence of treason. Spies even go to the continent where English Catholics have fled and may be plotting to overthrow the government. Robert Katesby (Kit Harington) has been losing his family fortune protecting Catholic priests. His mother is brutally killed along with a young priest; Katesby himself is imprisoned for not attending Anglican services and refusing to pay the fines levied for such disobedience. The Spanish government seems unsympathetic to the Catholic cause in England even while claiming to be the protectors of English Catholics. Katesby becomes desperate enough to conspire with other discontented Catholics at home and in exile. He winds up in league with Guy Fawkes (Tom Cullen) and they hatch the infamous Gunpowder Plot. They will blow up Parliament along with the king and his family when Parliament begins its next session on November 5. The plot fails and the conspirators are captured and put to death, some in gruesome ways. 

This brief television series (three one-hour episodes) gives a dramatic retelling of the Gunpowder Plot. The story is entertaining and Katesby is a very sympathetic character. The show pulls no punches when it depicts the barbaric tortures and executions inflicted by the British government. To be fair, the Spanish government is also shown to be ruthless and brutal, burning two Jews at the stake because they won't renounce their faith for Catholicism. The Spanish come off as particularly shifty and unlikeable--they are willing to make deals for political advancement at the cost of the Catholics in England. The show also goes over the top depicting gruesome deaths. Some of the action sequences don't fit credibly with the story. If Fawkes and Katesby were in a bar fight before the plot, surely that would have been enough for the government to crack down on them. Also, a highly dramatic jail break stretches plausibility. Harington gives an earnest performance that I liked. Gatiss as the villainous Cecil is much less convincing.

Slightly recommended--the drama is undercut by the brutality that the viewers see from all sides.