Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Sacha Dhawan, Charity Wakefield, Gwilym Lee, Adam Godley, Douglas Hodge, Belinda Bromilow, Bayo Gbadmosi, Florence Keith-Roach, Danusia Samal, Sebastian De Souza, Louis Hynes, Kemi-Bo Jacobs, Jamie Demetriou, Christophe Tek, Srewart Scudamore, Alistair Green, Jordan Kagaba, Charlie Price, Blake Harrison, Richard Pyros, Abraham Popoola, Asheq Aktar, Ezra Faroque Khan, Miles Jupp, John Sessions, Freddie Fox.
History is always in perspective, what one historian insists is gospel truth, another will refute and explain in such a way that all that we know is foolish and wrong.
Weaving itself between what if and alternative history, The Great is a feast of narrative in which the court of Peter III, which was already chaotic and almost incongruous in a world of enlightenment, was thrown further into disarray by his arranged marriage to the woman who would eventually become one of Russian history’s more celebrated and influential figures, Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine The Great.
It is in the form of anarchy that we throw all that we are taught into the wastebasket of life, and search instead for the details that make history, rightly or wrongly, fun; and fun is exactly what The Great is, it doesn’t pretend to be highbrow, it acknowledges the licence it has taken to stretch the truth, but that in the end, and with the benefit of anarchy, is what makes the ten-part series such a joy to be immersed in.
Truth is in the eye of the beholder and the pen and ink of the scribe, and whilst the rich tapestry of Catherine’s life, her trials and passions, her deceit and revolutionary stance in terms of the arts, cannot be dismissed, what the programme brings to the audience is interest, for history is not, and should never be, the memorising of key days and figures, but of the world at that time, of the intrigue, of the way human activity has been pushed by one particular avenue split between two camps, the pursuit and dismantling of power.
Whilst there have been arguably more virtuous examples of Empress of Russia’s life on screen, notably the 2019 mini-series starring Helen Mirren, Catherine The Great, none have entertained more than this particular series, which has at its heart the terrific screen presence of Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Charity Wakefield, Gwilym Lee and Adam Godley. Risqué, bombastic, earthy, foul minded, courageously spirited, dramatic and insanely brilliant, The Great is anarchic merriment wrapped up in the cold brutality of Peter’s reign and the brilliant mind of one of the most fascinating figures in history.
The historical purist will undoubtedly denounce the series, seeing it as more of a romp than fact, but in this case, history is not seen to be bunk, but as an affirmation of all that we, as school children, were ashamedly sheltered from in the pursuit of glorifying State, religion and the so-called power of European regal courts.
Outstanding!
Ian D. Hall