For historical purposes, I found this to be instructional to a degree. I have more questions now about the King, his court, and all the characters featured. The most exciting part of the series for me was Tom Cullen's appearances. It would have helped to be given more details about each character on all sides of the conflict. That would have required more parts than a mere three, but I would have stuck with it if we were given more fleshed out and developed characters, as it did feel rushed.

This three-part BBC dramatisation of the events surrounding the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was something of a mixed bag. There was the expected attention to period detail in the sets and costumes and the acting too was good in almost every major part. However, historical accuracy was blown to smithereens in places and other aspects of the story were undoubtedly "sexed up" to make for presumably more exciting viewing in this day and age.It was also a tough watch at times with graphic depictions of torture and execution, the latter in particular where in the first episode we see a middle-aged Catholic woman stripped naked and agonisingly crushed to death followed by a young priest hung, drawn and quartered, his entrails ripped from his still-living body, before his beheading and his severed head stuck on a pike put on public display. All of this before a baying, bloodthirsty crowd of supposedly ordinary people. The story centres on young Catholic nobleman Robert Catesby who becomes the centre of a Popish plot to strike back against the ever more repressive anti-Catholic legislation put before King James by his first lieutenant, the hunch-backed Robert Cecil and his hired muscle in the person of Sir William Wade. With his cohorts, Catesby, after failing to get support abroad for his plans, hatches the famous gunpowder plot to blow up the king and his ministers on the opening of Parliament which sees him meet up with one Guy Fawkes, a cold-bloodedly determined confederate.Kit Harington, whose very name seems apt for the time, portrayed plays Catesby as the determined handsome hero, prepared to martyr himself to the cause. Peter Mullen is the priest whose commitment to the cause is racked by self-doubt but who in the end, inspired by Catesby's example, finds his own inner courage to match his convictions. Mark Gatiss plays the ruthless, scheming Cecil as almost a pantomime villain with Shaun Dooley more impressive as the brutal Wade, happy to follow orders no matter how violent they are. King James's homosexual tendencies are rather unsubtly highlighted as he plays up to his young lover at court, before his narrow escape frightens him back to his queen.To me though the story was over-egged in that for example, nowhere have I read of Catesby freeing another young Catholic priest from the Tower Of London, shown here in almost medieval "Mission Impossible" style and as for the last stand of Catesby and his followers, his "Butch Cassidy" - type slow motion death seemed likewise over the top.I just think that historically important stories like this should pay more attention to the truth and not make so many concessions to an audience it thinks needs cliff-hanging thrills and contrived action sequences in the name of entertainment. The Gunpowder Plot was a pivotal moment in British history and I think deserved a more factual retelling than it got here, no matter how well acted and re-enacted it otherwise was.

Great locations, costume and overall a glossy high-budget and easy on the eye production. Just stunningly boring though. Even at only 3 episodes, it felt like you could cut out all the dull filler and condense the hammy, historically inaccurate narrative into a single hour of something a bit more watchable. Nothing remotely like Wolf Hall (which was gripping and superb). Definitely one to avoid.

The big issue between what Protestantism and Catholicism were actually offering the people is not discussed at all. Let's face facts. These were TERRORISTS who tried to blow up parliament. Yet the series paints these people as heroes. All the sympathy is with the Catholics who had banned their followers access to the Bible; who offered forgiveness of sins for hard cash; whose priests controlled all access to god and controlled all aspect of a person's spiritual life. Not content with this oppression of their own followers they wished to impose their vile ideology upon the English who had rejected the Pope's control over every nation in Europe in favour of religious plurality. How did this travesty come to the screen? Is it any surprise to learn that the writer of this utter nonsense is an Irish Catholic?Aside from being a travesty of history the plot sort of stays on the basic facts, but offers a biased twist in favour of support of terrorism.