TV Series: Gunpowder

Everyone who lives in England knows about the Gunpowder Plot. It's celebrated every year on November 5th. People know that it was carried out by Guy Fawkes, and they might even know that the plot took place in 1605, if they paid attention in school. He's the man who tried to blow up parliament. It's traditional for children to make an effigy of a man, call him Guy Fawkes, dress him, then burn him on a fire; or rather, they let their parents burn him. In the old days children would build a man out of straw. Today they beg clothing stores for no longer used showroom dummies. In parts of England there are even parades with burning crosses, not to be confused with racist demonstrations in other parts of the world.

That was the full extent of my knowledge of the Gunpowder Plot. If more was taught in school, I've long forgotten it. The three-part mini-series shown on the BBC has taught me a lot more about it. It would be good instructional material for schools, if not for the scenes of violence and torture.

The series isn't about Guy Fawkes. He was the man who was caught beneath parliament with the gunpowder, but he wasn't the man responsible for the plot. The ringleader was Robert Catesby, a young nobleman from Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire, about 15 miles from Birmingham. King James of Scotland had just become King of England and demanded that everyone should become Protestants. This angered Catesby as a staunch Catholic, and he intended to kill the King.

Kit Harington, who plays Robert Catesby, personally petitioned for the series to be made. It was a sentimental issue for him, because he's a direct descendant of Catesby on his mother's side. He was told about his ancestor from his early years, so when he became an actor he was determined to play this role.

Is it a good series? I have mixed feelings. I enjoyed watching it, but it's very slow moving in parts. It lasts three hours (three times 60 minutes), but I feel that the story could have been tightened if it had been reduced to two hours. I also feel that the matter of religion, which is crucial to the story, isn't given enough treatment. We see that the Catholics and the Protestants hate one another, but there's no explanation why. We don't need a full theological exposition, but it would have been good to thread in a few religious discussions to explain the differences that people were fighting about.

The outstanding actors are Kit Harington himself and Peter Mullan who plays the Jesuit priest Henry Garnet. It's moving to see the two men together. They're friends who have different opinions about what to do, despite following the same faith. Catesby wants to kill the King and all of parliament, whereas Garnet wants peace with those who think differently.

Guy Fawkes himself doesn't appear until late in the story, the last few minutes of the first episode, and even when we see him later on he's in the background. He's a man of few words who prefers to sit in silence and let the others talk. At first his silence makes the others doubt his loyalty, but eventually he's appointed as the man who will sacrifice his life setting off the explosion.

The series is of great interest to me as an Englishman interested in the history of his country, but I doubt it will appeal to viewers from other countries.