The time is 1603. The place is England. The era is the beginning of the reign of the first Stuart king of England, James I, who has come to London from Scotland after the death of her royal majesty Elizabeth I. This is the backdrop for a story of heresy, torture, terror, and conspiracy in the so-called Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
In the opening episode, the filmmakers take an enormously sympathetic response to the Catholic recusants. We follow the harrowing incident of a group of thugs sent by the crown who enter into the home of Lady Dorothy Dibdale. A secret mass has just been performed by Father Henry Garnet. With the arrival of the thugs, the recusants hide in the secret compartments of the home. One lad with the alias of Daniel Smith is discovered, and Lady Dibdale is taken away with young master Daniel Smith.
The brutal execution of Lady Dibdale ("crushed like a seed" by pressing) and young Smith ("slaughtered like a hog") is a gruesome depiction of the kind of harassment of Catholics that Queen Elizabeth wanted to avoid. But successor James I is also tolerant of the Catholics as long as they are not plotting against him. But his pit bull, Robert Cecil, is the zealot behind the pressure being exerted in the new regime. In this film, James is portrayed as caring less about affairs of state than an affair with his courtier, young Philip. We watch Philip sitting on his cushioned privy having a bowel movement, prior to entering into Parliament.
The focal point of the program is on Robert "Robin" Catesby, the brother of Lady Dibdale arrested in her home in Baddesley Clinton, Warwickwhire. Catesby now begins the dastardly revenge plot to blow up Parliament, which he considers the "root" of the problem. His allies are Tom and young Jack Wright. Anne Vaux, another recusant and devotee of Father Garnet, is also horrified by the death of Lady Dibdale. But will Anne join Robin in the conspiracy?
A subplot of the episode occurs outside Brussels in Flanders, where Douai is the center of the exiled English recusants. Led by William Stanley, the enclave may be the seedbed of a major rebellion against James I. Lord Nortumberland attempts to convince King James to relax the strictures against the Catholics in order to ensure the signing of a treaty with Catholic Spain. The treaty is crucial to avoid another Spanish invasion of England.
Cecil has sent a spy, Captain Turner, to infiltrate the Douai stronghold of Stanley. But when Turner arrives in Flanders, he is cut through by the sword of of Stanley's watchdog Guy Fawkes.
The game is on!
In the opening episode, the filmmakers take an enormously sympathetic response to the Catholic recusants. We follow the harrowing incident of a group of thugs sent by the crown who enter into the home of Lady Dorothy Dibdale. A secret mass has just been performed by Father Henry Garnet. With the arrival of the thugs, the recusants hide in the secret compartments of the home. One lad with the alias of Daniel Smith is discovered, and Lady Dibdale is taken away with young master Daniel Smith.
The brutal execution of Lady Dibdale ("crushed like a seed" by pressing) and young Smith ("slaughtered like a hog") is a gruesome depiction of the kind of harassment of Catholics that Queen Elizabeth wanted to avoid. But successor James I is also tolerant of the Catholics as long as they are not plotting against him. But his pit bull, Robert Cecil, is the zealot behind the pressure being exerted in the new regime. In this film, James is portrayed as caring less about affairs of state than an affair with his courtier, young Philip. We watch Philip sitting on his cushioned privy having a bowel movement, prior to entering into Parliament.
The focal point of the program is on Robert "Robin" Catesby, the brother of Lady Dibdale arrested in her home in Baddesley Clinton, Warwickwhire. Catesby now begins the dastardly revenge plot to blow up Parliament, which he considers the "root" of the problem. His allies are Tom and young Jack Wright. Anne Vaux, another recusant and devotee of Father Garnet, is also horrified by the death of Lady Dibdale. But will Anne join Robin in the conspiracy?
A subplot of the episode occurs outside Brussels in Flanders, where Douai is the center of the exiled English recusants. Led by William Stanley, the enclave may be the seedbed of a major rebellion against James I. Lord Nortumberland attempts to convince King James to relax the strictures against the Catholics in order to ensure the signing of a treaty with Catholic Spain. The treaty is crucial to avoid another Spanish invasion of England.
Cecil has sent a spy, Captain Turner, to infiltrate the Douai stronghold of Stanley. But when Turner arrives in Flanders, he is cut through by the sword of of Stanley's watchdog Guy Fawkes.
The game is on!
