Like a bodice ripper novel with half the pages missing
l though not the worst miniseries I have seen, I found this mini series utterly incomprehensible, and I have a great knowledge of British history. Aside from the heroine being named Angelica (Angelique?) and being a composite of Moll Flanders, Amber St. Claire, Fanny Hill, and the aforementioned Angelique, the patchy story was like an abbreviation of a novel which already had half the pages missing and thus extremely hard to follow. One moment husband #3 is in a Jersey jail with cardboard backdrops, next moment he is loading up a table full of pistols ready to take a shot at someone. Angelica meanwhile is sitting on the beach. Who was the man determined to hang her who was eventually shot in the bath and why was he after her? Cromwell and Sexby went to Ireland, for five minutes of rape and pillage, but no explanation was offered as to what Cromwell disliked about the Irish. I realise we can consult the history books, but we shouldn't have to.
I downloaded the miniseries online and the lack of captions was a serious handicap. Who were the men who burned the crop of the peasants making hay? Why did allegiances change, and why did an astrocratic heroine sound like a cockney barmaid. saying tike and mike for take and make? Why did the filmmakers not dye the grass green (or CGI color it) and why did they not put in a few hedges and sheep? England has very green grass and small walled or hedged fields. At the time there would also have been massive forests. The series was apparently filmed in South Africa. Had I been told Australia I would have believed it.
Considering that many of the actors were big names with respectable resumes, the acting was puzzling at times, most especially Maxine Peake who appeared to have no emotion and while her husband Lilburn was being flogged and put in the stocks (what for?) she was handing out tracts like invitations to a party. Andrea Riseboro was not up to the part either in acting skill or looks. Even the cascading heavy wig did not make her the object of lust and envy in the hearts of all men.
Overall, the mini series was neither one thing nor the other. Neither a Masterpiece Theater slice of history, nor a sexy picaresque romp. It might have benefited from a couple of extra episodes.