Helen Mirren is back on the throne where she belongs in Catherine The Great, but this could well be her finest performance as a monarch to date.
HBO and Sky have proved themselves to be match made in heaven, teaming up again following the biggest success story of the year in Chernobyl, which went on to sweep up at the Emmy Awards and become the highest rated TV show in IMDB history.
Catherine The Great could easily take it mantle.
The four part miniseries follows Catherine’s sudden reign from 1762 to 1796 after she overthrew her husband Peter III, becoming among the most powerful leaders of the Western World. If getting to the throne took cut-throat determination, keeping it was another level. The circumstances surrounding her rise to power were at the very least suspicious, at worst it’s potentially murder.
In turn, her allies are few and far between; even her own son (played by Joseph Quinn) is out for her downfall. It’s a lonely place at the top until she finds a passionate love in military leader Grigory Potemkin (Jason Clarke). Beneath what is undeniably a spectacle comparable to big screen blockbusters, it’s the greatest love story you may have known nothing about which gives Catherine The Great its heart.
Monogamy is off the table, but Catherine’s enamoured and on the surface so is he. Whether the feeling was actually mutual or she was Grigory’s bread and butter is disputed, but makes for a captivating watch all the same.
Drawing from Catherine’s real life letters, the series is a stunning tribute to what truly made the Empress great. Mirren perfectly captures a wicked humour which rarely compliments women in power on screen, discarding the popular myths of her wild sexual exploits, there’s a humanity which has been silenced in the history books. And the truth is so much more interesting than the legend.
Mirren has spent most of the press campaign shutting down the popular tale that Catherine – who survived massacres, spent two decades successfully fighting off threats to her reign and is, 400 years on, regarded as one of the triumphant leaders ever recorded – was killed having sex with a horse.
During the two decades covered in Catherine The Great, battle scenes reminiscent of Game of Thrones add another layer of bloody carnage to what is otherwise a classic period drama, with welcome shock and gore which inevitably equates to more heartbreak.
While Catherine is clearly more than the infamous man-eater of the 18th century, her promiscuity isn’t ignored. If anything its celebrated. HBO have never shied away from sex and they’re not going to start here, but it always feels necessary rather than steering towards gratuitous.
Naturally, the lavish costumes, Mirren continually draped in diamonds make for a beautiful watch, but beyond the aesthetic there are two women who deserve to be celebrated. Mirren, obviously, who has only overthrown herself as the greatest portrayal of a monarch but even more so, Catherine.
Her reputation has been tarnished by so many, but her legacy is extraordinary. A small German girl who grew up to be the leader of the strongest Empire in the world, and ruled it greater than any man before her. A champion of vaccination, determined to educate women – her foresight was unheard of.
Catherine The Great is more than entertainment, it’s the story which is overdue its credence; an essential watch.
Catherine The Great airs tonight at 9pm on Sky Atlantic and will be available to stream on NOW TV.
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