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The Borgias (BBC 1981)
18 Jun 2018 09:29 am[In the interests of actually posting about things I watch, have this one I wrote in January! One day I may be up to date...]
I wanted to see The Borgias (BBC 1981) because it was what Alfred Burke did next after Enemy at the Door (and also had Simon Lack's final TV appearance - he died shortly afterwards). Also because the BBC went all out for it with location filming and getting Adolfo Celi as Rodrigo Borgia, but then it flopped completely, going up against Brideshead Revisited on ITV and was hastily pushed away into a late spot, so reviews were divided as to whether it was terrible or had just been unlucky.
I'm not entirely sure what to make of it: I don't think it's terrible - what it is, despite the location filming, is essentially standard old-school BBC historical drama, which had the misfortune of going up against something in (what was then) the more modern format. But it's also not that brilliant, either, although I think that because I really got rather fed up with Oliver Cotton's Cesare. It wasn't a bad performance, but it wasn't anything like as strong as Adolfo Celi, Anne-Louise Lambert, or Alfred Burke and yet he had the lion's share of the screen time, which made it an annoying experience. If you liked Oliver Cotton and his terrible wig/hair (? hard to be sure), it would be much better. Highlights included Peter Benson (the BBC's Henry VI) being ridiculously good in a tiny role (as ever) and Sam Dastor (the BBC 1979's Casca) turning up as Machiavelli, which was brilliant.
Also, to keep on the BBC Shakespeare theme, I now know where they got that wig they put on Tessa Peake in Two Gentleman of Verona. It's Anne-Louise Lambert's Lucrezia Borgia wig, I'll stake my life on it. The BBC couldn't run to two such long blonde crimped 15th C Italian wigs. It's just that it suits Anne-Louise Lambert and is fine in the more naturalistic lighting of The Borgias; it's appalling on Tessa Peake-Jones in the BBC Shakespeare's brightly-lit theatrical sets. (See: terrible fake hair I'm still not over.)
( Wig pics )
So, it's interesting, some good performances, presumably not bad on the historical accuracy front and Alfred Burke wound up pope (what else do you do with a man with the face of a saint, a librarian or a confidence trickster, after all? For the sake of humanity, he still had his beard). Not enough Alfred Burke, though. And far, far too much Oliver Cotton/his terrible hair.
Bonus, though: gif of Alfred Burke reacting to the news that his wine has been poisoned. The universe just continually lets one down, really.
( Cut for oh dear poison gif )
I wanted to see The Borgias (BBC 1981) because it was what Alfred Burke did next after Enemy at the Door (and also had Simon Lack's final TV appearance - he died shortly afterwards). Also because the BBC went all out for it with location filming and getting Adolfo Celi as Rodrigo Borgia, but then it flopped completely, going up against Brideshead Revisited on ITV and was hastily pushed away into a late spot, so reviews were divided as to whether it was terrible or had just been unlucky.
I'm not entirely sure what to make of it: I don't think it's terrible - what it is, despite the location filming, is essentially standard old-school BBC historical drama, which had the misfortune of going up against something in (what was then) the more modern format. But it's also not that brilliant, either, although I think that because I really got rather fed up with Oliver Cotton's Cesare. It wasn't a bad performance, but it wasn't anything like as strong as Adolfo Celi, Anne-Louise Lambert, or Alfred Burke and yet he had the lion's share of the screen time, which made it an annoying experience. If you liked Oliver Cotton and his terrible wig/hair (? hard to be sure), it would be much better. Highlights included Peter Benson (the BBC's Henry VI) being ridiculously good in a tiny role (as ever) and Sam Dastor (the BBC 1979's Casca) turning up as Machiavelli, which was brilliant.
Also, to keep on the BBC Shakespeare theme, I now know where they got that wig they put on Tessa Peake in Two Gentleman of Verona. It's Anne-Louise Lambert's Lucrezia Borgia wig, I'll stake my life on it. The BBC couldn't run to two such long blonde crimped 15th C Italian wigs. It's just that it suits Anne-Louise Lambert and is fine in the more naturalistic lighting of The Borgias; it's appalling on Tessa Peake-Jones in the BBC Shakespeare's brightly-lit theatrical sets. (See: terrible fake hair I'm still not over.)
( Wig pics )
So, it's interesting, some good performances, presumably not bad on the historical accuracy front and Alfred Burke wound up pope (what else do you do with a man with the face of a saint, a librarian or a confidence trickster, after all? For the sake of humanity, he still had his beard). Not enough Alfred Burke, though. And far, far too much Oliver Cotton/his terrible hair.
Bonus, though: gif of Alfred Burke reacting to the news that his wine has been poisoned. The universe just continually lets one down, really.
( Cut for oh dear poison gif )