The Build-Up To A Battle, Saving Your Country & From Novel To Screen Thriller!

Hello world! Welcome back to another blog. In this blog, I’ll be doing another tv review of three shows I’ve been watching. These include a story building up to the legendary battle of Hastings, a Netflix thriller that saw a prime minister organising a rescue mission, and a channel 5 thriller based on the novel with the same name. So without further ado, here is some of the shows I’ve been watching lately:

King & Conqueror:

The show I’m going to talk about is King & Conqueror, starring James Norton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

This tells the story of the friendship turned sworn enemies of Harold earl of Wessex and duke William of Normandy, building up to the famous battle of Hastings in 1066. Because this is based off of British history, for this review I’m going to describe these characters based on how they were during that era itself. 

Duke William of Normandy (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), I feel just wants to be the best of the best, and that one job isn’t enough. From killing king Henry of France (Jean-Marc Barr) he wanted more, going to extreme lengths to achieve that goal. But he definitely had a strong woman by his side in the form of Matilda (Clémence Poséy), who let’s just say that if she were ruler of Normandy, she was a fine one at that. Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex (James Norton), I feel was trying to prove to his father Godwin (Geoff Bell who you might recognise as Richie Stevenson in Mobland), even after death, that he is capable of becoming a ruler. Even though his decisions claim to be for the family, it doesn’t always agree with the family, especially his mother Gytha (Clare Holman). This is in complete contrast with his wife Edith (Emily Beecham), who she made a promise to him that whatever decision he’d make, it would be for their children. 

There were other characters who I could see impacted the decisions William and Harold made. Two of them included Harold’s brothers Sweyn and Tostig (Elliot Cowan and Luther Ford). What I got from Sweyn was that because he was the eldest, he thought he could get everything he want with a flock of a finger, no matter what the consequences are, and what I got from Tostig was that he might be the youngest and more shy, but trust me you do not want to mess with him. And following the death of his wife Judith (Ines Asserson) and his baby, he was hellbent for revenge, as Harold broke his promise to help him when he needed it the most. At the start of the series, lady Emma (Juliet Stephenson), was the master of manipulation, even when Edward (Eddie Marsan) became king, using his mental well-being to her advantage. It was until her death where he gained full control, with Harold’s sister Gunhild (Bo Bragason) taking the reins, making her status as queen clear. Another character/historical figure that made an impact was Williams’ right hand man Fitzosbern (Ingvar Eggert Sigurõsson), who as stated in the show, had known William since childhood, and stood by his side until the very end. I also got that his brother Odo (Léo Legrand), was someone who didn’t know what he wanted from life, but being sent away by William made him see religion and being a bishop was what he was destined to do. Finally, in the show, Matilda's father Baldwin (Oliver Masucci) used his kindness to his advantage, and Morcar, Earl of Mercia (Elander Moore), I think just wanted all the power for himself, and during the Battle of Hastings himself, I could see that he was only thinking about himself.

I don’t think I had be any downsides to it. But I think the only thing was that because it’s based off of British history, it was hard to get my head around the story. However, when I got to half way through the series, I managed to know each character’s intentions and their decisions leading to the famous battle itself.

Overall I would give the shoe a 4.5. It had action, twists and retold an important battle in British history and the events that led up to it. As mentioned before it did take a couple of episodes in to get my head around, but once I settled into the story, I was fully invested in it. 

Hostage:

The next show I’m going to talk about is Hostage, starting Surrane Jones, Julie Deply and Corey Mylchreest.

As stated on the Netflix website, the plot of the show is as follows:

"When the British prime minister's husband is kidnapped and the French president starts receiving threats, both leaders must face an impossible choice."

Abigail Dalton (Surrane Jones) was what you call a woman on a mission. She was fearless, brave and not afraid to speak her mind. And good on her for doing whatever it took to get her husband Alex back from grave danger. And what I think she doesn’t realise is that she French president Vivienne Toussaint (Julie Deply) had more in common than they thought. They both wanted to make their country proud, they both had obstacles ahead of them and they wanted to do a good job. Had not the dramatic fate to Toussaint happened, they would be a force to be reckoned with. 

There were other supporting characters who helped Dalton and Toussaint in their journeys. For Toussaint, These included her stepson Matheo (Corey Mylchreest who you might recognise as the young King George in Queen Charlotte), who both had a shocking scandal which is why Toussaint stopped the rescue mission early on, and his girlfriend Saskia (Sophie Robertson). She had abit of a dark secret herself, and it was linked to Daltons case too, which I’ll explain more about in a moment. There was also her Secretary-General Adrienne Pelletier (Jehnny Beth), who had her one secret linking to Alex going missing, and Toussaint's husband Elias (Vincent Perez), who thought he was helping her, when in fact he wants to feel in control. For Dalton, her aim to rescue husband Alex (Ashley Thomas), whilst also reassuring her daughter Sylvie (Isobel Akuwudike) was both a personal challenge and a professional one to keep them both safe and help run the country. There was also tension between her and her father Max (James Cosmo), who we had an incline of her childhood after she mentioned a comment about his style of parenting. But her team, which included Chief of Staff Kofi (Lucian Msamati who had his own scandal but had an emotional reason behind it) and political staffer and investigator Ayesha (Hiftu Quasem who I feel acted as a big sister towards Sylvie), had faith in her no matter what decision she made. But the presence of John Michael Shagan (Martin McCann), led to Alex’s capture, and a link to a flashback in the final episode revealed why he was targeting Salton, and why there’s so much rage and anger (as there’s always a reason why people do certain things). All of this was organised by Chief of the defence General Livingston (Mark Lewis Jones), who orchestrated the whole thing and was eventually caught out. 

I think my only downside was that the ending was quite abrupt. I don’t know if that means that there will be a second season of the show, but it did leave me going “that was it?” in a confused manner. I would’ve also liked to see the aftermath following Matheo and how he’s moving on with his life following his kidnap and the death of Toussaint.

Overall I would give the show a 4.95. It was suspenseful, surprising and I can see why my dad and Nan liked it so much. But I would’ve liked abit more detail on the ending and if there is any indication of a second season or not.

The Rumour:

The final show I’m going to talk about is The Rumour, starring Rachel Shenton, Joanne Whalley and Emily Atack.

This tells the story of Joanna, who moves to a small town for a new life, only to find herself in the centre of a rumour she spread throughout the village.

Rachel Shenton did a brilliant job of portraying the role of Joanna. After hearing her speak on an Act On This podcast about why this is a challenging role for her, and how having a child if her own now has impacted her performance, she certainly executed that challenge beautifully. I also resonated with Joanna in the fact that I too also just want to fit in, but let’s just say that I won’t be using a rumour to get into friendship groups! I can also see why she loved getting to work with Joanne Walley, who played Joanna’s mum Bea. The love both these characters had at the beginning of the series you can tell was genuine, but then Beas shocking secret changes everything, including the rumour itself. I also loved the versatility in Emily Atack, who played one of the mums Debbie. Even though she is best known in comedy, I loved how she portrayed this character, and how her aggressiveness is deep down, an insecurity based on her l husband Stephen's (Alex Waldmann who’s Joanna’s boss at her workplace) past. Despite some threats in which Joanna thought they were linked to the rumour, I’m glad to see them grow into friends in episode 4, when Debbie revealed why she did what she did. 

The supporting cast also did a brilliant job to help Joanna’s story. These included two members of the mum group in the form of Fatima and Kay (Carryl Thomas and Liza Sadovy), with Fatima having a scandalous secret linking to Stephen, and Kay having her own secret linking to her daughter Zoe, who’s not seen but mentioned in the show. There was also fellow mum Rachel (Lucy Speed), who may have been nice at first, but at the end of the series, she had a secret linking to the rumour which I half didn’t expect but also half did. There was also Rachel’s ex Michael (Samuel Anderson), who Joanna claimed he was bad news, but after she revealed why she moved from London, he eventually became the good guy, being the husband Joanna fell in love with before. Finally, there was Beas close friend Liz (Ellie Haddington), a talented artist who Joanna did have suspicions on, but a heartbreaking secret revealed why she had a certain photo of a baby, but also I think felt guilt over Beas secret. 

As for downsides, I don’t think I have any. I think my only thing is that because it’s based off of a novel, I’m not sure if they’ll be a second series. But if the writer of the original novels had any ideas of a sequel or another story like this, I’d be interested in watching it. 

Overall, I would give the show a full house of 5 out of 5. It had mystery, twists and turns, and some shocking secrets even I wasn’t expecting. A brilliant series, and bringing the book from paper to screen was a genius in the making.

And that is it for latest tv review. Do let me know your thoughts on these three shows!

See you soon for another blog. Until next time…

This is The Autistic Actress signing off :)