Mary & George review: a super-explicit and cheerily debauched tale of royals behaving badly

If you feared the end of Game of Thrones would bring down the curtains on the ye olde medieval bonkbuster genre, then fret not. Here’s Mary & George (Sky Atlantic, Now, Tuesday, 9pm), a super-explicit and cheerily debauched tale of royals behaving badly. Buckle up for a gluttonous onslaught brimming with debauched dauphins, scheming courtiers and orgiastic princelings.

For those who aren’t tuning in for the bared bottoms – one early episode includes a charming “ménage à six” – Mary & George also features a starry cast led by Julianne Moore. She is Mary Villiers, a (real life) minor noblewoman in early 16th century England who conceives of a grand plan to squirrel her way into the favour of the rapacious James I (Tony Curran).

That scheme involves her second son, George (an expressionless Nicholas Galitzine), whose movie star looks to offer a passport to bigger and better things for the cunning Mary (Moore is having the best fun ever).

The plan hinges on George catching the eye of James – a “horny-handed horror” who never steps outside his palace without a carnival of romantic hangers-on in tow.

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To brush up on his seduction skills, young George is packed off to France, where he receives a crash course in orgy participation. Mary meanwhile is doing some seducing of her own – arranging a beneficial marriage to a gruff businessman (Sean Gilder) after her previous husband (Simon Russell Beale) dies tragically (he falls down the stairs having been helpfully prodded in that direction by Mary). There is also a frenemy to contend with – the acid-tongued Lady Hatton (Nicola Walker).

The vibe throughout Mary & George is of an art-house renaissance romp with the safety-catch off. In that respect, it forms part of a micro-milieu of candle-powered capers that includes Olivia Colman’s Oscar-winning The Favourite and the atrocious St Petersburg-set dramedy The Great, which cast an allegedly comedic eye at the conquests of Catherine The Great.

All three share a despondent view of humanity – people will do anything, or anyone, to get ahead – and a grim comedy style that weighs down the story like mud on the hem of a dress.

Mary & George may be the bleakest of the lot: it is dimly lit, misanthropic and wallpapered in bared flesh. There’s no arguing with the quantity: it has a bottomless supply of bonking and back-stabbing. But size isn’t everything and many viewers will find Mary & George’s seduction routine all too easy to resist.