'The Palace' is a series that takes place in a fictionalised royal family not so unlike our own; a young king thrown unexpectedly to the throne and who resembles George VI; his sister is a ringer for Princess Margaret, and there are a batch of partying young royals to boot. An ensemble cast also features many of the palace staff, and the tone of the program is somewhere between 'Drop the Dead Donkey' and 'House of Cards', as it follows the ambitions and intrigue surrounding this substantial collection of characters. It's all believable stuff, yet somehow not very interesting: the comedy element is obvious and just not that funny, while the more serious side of the drama fails to engage, the royal family has already lost so much of its mystique that it's hard to feel anything real is at stake in the political games. Stepehen Frears' film 'The Queen', another obvious template, was such fun because of the way it imaginatively interpreted real events and people; but in 'The Palace', none of the made-up royals have sufficient depth to flesh out the plot beyond a skeleton outline. In the end, it's neither subversive or revealing, and fails to contain anything that might not have been predicted; neither true sitcom not true satire, 'The Palace' aims high but ultimately, appears to have nothing of substance to say.
Review of The Palace
