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.
