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BRITANNIA | TV REVIEW
*****
Creators: Jez and Tom Butterworth, James Richardson
Starring: David Morrissey, Mackenzie Crook, Zoe Wanamaker
(9 episodes).
Britannia, the new show by Sky Atlantic really does get going from the opening moments. This is a 9-part series created by Jez Butterworth, his brother Tom Butterworth, and James Richardson, with the brothers handling writing duties. It was partly filmed here in Wales, most notably in Nash Point, near Marcross in the Vale of Glamorgan, which features prominently in the first episode.
As is the norm these days for any historically set show, it was always apparent Britannia was going to be compared to Game of Thrones. The Butterworth brothers claim to have never seen Game of Thrones. And it appears they don’t have any desire to, either.
It’s clear from the start that Jez Butterworth and co. are more interested in character than in definable historical events. Good characterisation is really the foundation of a great TV show. What drew this writer into this manic and psychedelic world is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Britannia is ‘loosely’ based on fact and is set in the year 43 A.D., at a time when the Romans happened to decide to invade this island once more, after Caesar was sent packing about one hundred years earlier. Leading this Roman invasion is General Aulus Plautius (David Morrissey), and as we get to discover throughout the show, he is not only on a crusade for the plight of Rome but also a personal one to possible immortality, however that pans out once he meets the Druids.
Leading these Druids is Veran, played by a virtually unrecognisable Mackenzie Crook. He pulls off his best performance to date, finally eliminating the moniker of just being ‘Gareth from The Office’. There are many characters in Britannia – too many to talk about here – but another highly recognisable actor (and just as prone to being referred to as someone from ‘that BBC show My Family’) is Zoë Wanamaker. Foul-mouthed and utterly convincing in her role as Queen Antidia, she pulls up in episode 1, literally, on a chariot, her opening lines sticking a big middle-finger up to the typecast brigade. You just have to watch her and listen to her. She would not look out of place on the set of a Mad Max film.
There’s no drip-feeding the viewer. Britannia chucks you in at the deep end of the biggest swimming pool – or off the rocks as Divis (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) does. Divis is probably the stand out ‘WTF’ character in the entire show, and believe me, he has some competition! But he nails it; you could watch a whole spin-off series with this character alone! He’s more Monty Python than Game of Thrones but don’t be fooled: he packs some dark and heavy shit!
Britannia does not allow the viewer to get confused, as it simply rolls along with so much going on that you don’t get chance to rest on your laurels and say “What the fuck did I just witness?” You are to be entertained, and not given some boring history lesson (it was always boring at school). This show is manic, it is at times quite gruesome, it has enough talented actors to draw you into watching to the end. It will make you breathless. It will make you tap into Google about the Druids, and Aulus Plautius, who did exist, and who did invade Britannia.
It is a fantasy show probably like nothing you have seen or will ever see again. If you are up for that then you will love Britannia, and if you are still not tempted, just park your serious-history-lesson drama and just disappear into watching pure madness and proper entertainment. Hey, it’s not like Game of Thrones was fact now is it?
Words Carl Marsh
Available on exclusively on Sky Atlantic and via TV Streaming Service NOW TV