'Sharpe' author Bernard Cornwell penned a Saxon saga which is now billed as the BBC's answer to 'Game of Thrones'. We're not GoT fans, but it's a misleading comparison. This is the historical rather than the fantasy genre, though we're making no claims as to historical accuracy (remember those electric guitars accompanying Sean Bean to Waterloo?).
Anyway, the Danes, in their incarnation as Vikings in the 9th Century, invade a Saxon coastal fort in Northumbria and take young Uhtred captive, having slaughtered his father and brother. Uhtred is brought up a Dane, but never forgets who he is, and won't relinquish his birthright to his scheming uncle Aelfric (Joseph Millson).
That's kind of it, minus a great deal of sword-waving, blood-letting and a rather disturbing scene of childhood sexual assault. It's the usual tale of warrior honour - Christian and Pagan - with a dash of romance beloved of Cornwell readers and we've no doubt viewers will love it too. Alexander Dreymon has the kind of pretty-boy looks that won Orlando Bloom a following, i.e. he doesn't look much like a Saxon or a Dane, but a few million will doubtless follow his trek to the titular last English kingdom of Wessex over the next seven episodes.
What we expected from the first hour of this three-parter was a set-up episode, perhaps with a hook-in 'chaos' opener to set the scene before flashing back to the main story some hours/days/months/years before. We got what we expected, and, it must be said, quite a bit more besides
It wasn't a wordy script, so maybe it was just the top calibre acting from Morrissey and Hart, in particular, that made us care about the taxi driver struggling to make a living and dealing with gobby kids, a staid marriage, and stultifying middle age; we even cared about his longtime, ex-con mate. There wasn't anything particularly unexpected here, but we felt the allure of easy money in the face of dealing with his vile passengers (and their bodily excretions) and his growing horror at being confronted with what he'd previously refused to countenance: complicity in some very dark goings on.
There were moments of subtle humour in there too, which is rare (think 'Breaking Bad') and even more incredibly there were no glaringly obvious TWNH scenes where we just wanted to scoff knowingly and say that no-one in their right mind would do X or Y.
Bring on episodes two and three: the best thing so far this autumn.
Based on true events from 1931 when a lawyer, Hans Litten, forced Adolf Hitler into a courtroom. The lawyer was a liberal, left-leaning, even, and Jewish. The only possible TWNHs could be in the minute details of production, or of character portrayal. We're not familiar enough with either to recognise any. The familiarity of the story, though, is all the more shocking and uplifting for being true: man of integrity defies rising tyrant, achieves the only likely victory - a moral one - and pays the likely penalty of losing his life. An intelligent script, good performances (playing Hitler must be only slightly less trying than really holding his views) and a great argument for supporting single dramas. We'd studied modern history and not come across Mr Litten, a man with the courage of his convictions in an age of overblown icons and moral abdication.
