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The BBC One Miniseries has Game of Throne's Kit Harrington as one of its creators and it is based on the 1605 London Gunpowder plot which was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of Catholics led by Robert Catesby. The plan was to blow up the Palace of Westminster during the state opening of the parliament. An anonymous letter was sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, warning him to avoid the House of Lords. It was made public and this led to a search on November 5. Guy Fawkes was left to set off the fuse but he was caught in the last moment. The other conspirators were either killed resisting arrest or convicted and executed.
The first episode of Gun Powder left an impression in me, especially with the gruesome killings which, according to the show ignited Robert Catesby's gunpowder plot. After watching the execution of his aunt and a priest, he swore to revenge their deaths and make sure English Catholics are treated like human beings and not like second class citizens. Part one was actually my favorite part of this miniseries. It was well told and filled with a lot of tension.
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Gunpowder was filled with a lot of gory scenes of torture and heads on spikes. I was excited to see Kit Harrington play another role asides from Jon Snow and I must say, he did an awesome job. I'll admit, it kind of felt like I was watching Game of Thrones again with all the talk about the north, Catesby giving motivational speeches and all the gruesome murders. Harrington is actually a direct descendant of Catesby. I've always appreciated Mark Gatiss as an actor and he didn't disappoint with his role as Lord Robert Cecil. I loved the relationship between Father Henry Garnet (Peter Mulan) and Anne Vaux (Liv Tyler). In the final episode, you could see that these two had so much love for each other, they were ready to do anything to preserve each other's lives but Father Garnett had to pay the ultimate price. The entire cast of this BBC Drama delivered stellar performances. I don't think three episodes is enough for the Gunpowder plot, the final episode felt a bit rushed and I wish we got more episodes. I really loved the setting and how some of the scenes were filmed. Whoever was in charge of cinematography really knew what he/she was doing. Gunpowder was gripping and the script was well written. If you love Period Drama's, then Gunpowder is the show for you.
RATING 9/10
GENRE Period Drama
CREATED BY Ronan Bennett, Kit Harrington, Daniel West
WRITTEN BY Ronan Bennett
DIRECTED BY J Blakeson
STARRING Kit Harrington, Peter Mullan, Mark Gattiss, Liv Tyler, Tom Cullen, Edward Holcroft, David Bamber
No OF EPISODES 3
NETWORK BBC One
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