Religion and Ethics Forum

General Category => Literature, Music, Art & Entertainment => Topic started by: Nearly Sane on October 22, 2017, 01:04:46 PM

Title: Gunpowder
Post by: Nearly Sane on October 22, 2017, 01:04:46 PM
Been watching the series on iPlayer. It feels worthy and a bit slow, Kit Harrington appears to be playing his ancestor Robert Catesby as Jon Snow.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Steve H on October 22, 2017, 02:20:08 PM
I thought it was brilliant - especially the bloke being hanged, drawn and quartered, and the woman being pressed to death.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Robbie on October 22, 2017, 03:02:40 PM
I couldn't watch those bits! I saw them coming and shielded my eyes. It was good though, very dark, what you'd expect.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Steve H on October 22, 2017, 03:07:24 PM
I couldn't watch those bits! I saw them coming and shielded my eyes. It was good though, very dark, what you'd expect.
My inner 10-year-old little monster loved it.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Robbie on October 22, 2017, 03:25:16 PM
So did my inner ten year old Charley! Kept telling me to look asking me what they were doing.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: wigginhall on October 22, 2017, 03:40:26 PM
Interesting stuff, about which I know very little.  Hate the gore.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Walter on October 22, 2017, 03:58:16 PM
Interesting stuff, about which I know very little.  Hate the gore.
Interesting stuff, about which I know very little. Love the gore.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Anchorman on October 22, 2017, 04:28:01 PM
Pretty good, intelligent historical drama from the Beeb.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: SweetPea on October 22, 2017, 04:48:15 PM
Interesting stuff, about which I know very little.  Hate the gore.

Yes, the gore was quite nauseating.

What was also unnerving was the mention of Baddesley Clinton, where the victims came from.... we lived for 22 years just over a mile away. If you're around the area, Packwood House, full of priest holes, is well worth a visit.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Rhiannon on October 22, 2017, 04:57:49 PM
I read Antonia Fraser’s book on the Gunpowder Plot year’s ago so I knew I wouldn’t be able to cope with the torture scenes and executions in this series. I’m trying to remember if/when tv drama tackled this part of history before and can’t think of anything, which seems weird.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Nearly Sane on October 22, 2017, 04:59:51 PM
I read Antonia Fraser’s book on the Gunpowder Plot year’s ago so I knew I wouldn’t be able to cope with the torture scenes and executions in this series. I’m trying to remember if/when tv drama tackled this part of history before and can’t think of anything, which seems weird.


BBC did one 13 years ago


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder,_Treason_%26_Plot
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Rhiannon on October 22, 2017, 05:06:44 PM

BBC did one 13 years ago


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder,_Treason_%26_Plot

Ah, that was the era of new mummy brain fog for me. If it didn’t feature aspiring actors in giant foam suits singing The Wheels on the Bus it probably passed me by.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: jeremyp on October 22, 2017, 05:39:37 PM
I read Antonia Fraser’s book on the Gunpowder Plot year’s ago
So have I. It was a real eye opener. For instance, merely being a Catholic priest in England was considered to be treason and therefore exposed you to the possibility of being hung, drawn and quartered.

I feel sorry for Father Garnet, who was pretty much caught up in the whole thing by accident, and ended up as above.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Walter on October 22, 2017, 06:01:44 PM
Yes, the gore was quite nauseating.

What was also unnerving was the mention of Baddesley Clinton, where the victims came from.... we lived for 22 years just over a mile away. If you're around the area, Packwood House, full of priest holes, is well worth a visit.
unfotunately there are many priest holes under investigation at the presnt time also
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Enki on October 22, 2017, 06:03:14 PM
Yes, I watched the first episode. Found it enthralling and superbly acted. I did find it interesting though that my sympathies were directed towards the Catholics whose only crime was that they wished to practise their faith. No doubt this was accentuated by the gruesome torture parts. However I think that was also basically true during Queen Mary's reign when protestants were burned at the stake for their faith in an attempt to reimpose the Catholic faith.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Robbie on October 22, 2017, 06:08:07 PM
It was so realistic!  I knew as soon as we put it on what was going to happen and retreated behind the TvTimes at those times. Didn't stop my husband giving commentary.  Half dreading next week's episode but it's very good apart from the torture.

Walter  ;D.

Thank goodness for all our differences we don't do things like that to eachother now, enki (at least not at the moment, here!). No one was safe, I think we'd have always been looking over our shoulders not trusting anyone. Terrifying. Now no-one cares who believes what.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Anchorman on October 22, 2017, 06:33:33 PM
I'm no fan of 'Jamie the Saxt' - James VI  - but if I had to have a gripe, last nights's opener could have portrayed him as more intelligent.
Unlike many Stuarts, he was pretty knowkedgeable (if a bit obsessed with witchcraft), and, until the plot itself, pretty tolerant of Catholics - possibly as a reaction to his draconian 'education' regime under George Buchanan.
Put it this way, John knox was a windbag of the Reformation...Buchanan was a thinker, a schemer, probably even a match for Cecil, and very much an extremist.

Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Nearly Sane on October 23, 2017, 03:24:19 PM
Complaints raised about the gore - it's a difficult one, as the reason given seems sensible to me - but as in my thread about Mindhunter which has little gore, the discussion of certain aspects seems much more disturbing to me.

BTW - for those who haven't realised and might want to binge the other 2 episodes are already there on iPlayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41719440
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Humph Warden Bennett on October 23, 2017, 03:32:09 PM
I find it interesting that the Wail is now trying to restart a Catholic v Protestant argument, one would have hoped that this issue had been resolved a long time ago.

But then I do not take the Wail that seriously. It is a guilty pleasure of mine. I post there sometimes  :-[
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Steve H on October 23, 2017, 05:35:00 PM
"The Wail"?
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: jeremyp on October 23, 2017, 05:48:00 PM
"The Wail"?
The Daily Wail/Fail aka Mail. It's a rag full of lies that looks a bit like a newspaper.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Nearly Sane on October 23, 2017, 05:49:24 PM
I find it interesting that the Wail is now trying to restart a Catholic v Protestant argument, one would have hoped that this issue had been resolved a long time ago.

But then I do not take the Wail that seriously. It is a guilty pleasure of mine. I post there sometimes  :-[

Not if you live in the West of Scotland.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Shaker on October 23, 2017, 05:51:02 PM
The Daily Wail/Fail aka Mail. It's a rag full of lies that looks a bit like a newspaper.
aka the Daily Heil, a reference to Rothermere's support for that nice Mr. Hitler chap back in the 30s.

However I will say that their regular coverage of what causes cancer this month is a constant source of entertainment.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Steve H on October 23, 2017, 10:10:24 PM
The Daily Wail/Fail aka Mail. It's a rag full of lies that looks a bit like a newspaper.
Of course - should've guessed.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Humph Warden Bennett on October 24, 2017, 02:13:23 PM
aka the Daily Heil, a reference to Rothermere's support for that nice Mr. Hitler chap back in the 30s.

However I will say that their regular coverage of what causes cancer this month is a constant source of entertainment.

Their favorite trick is to show a photo of some B or C lister without make up looking frankly rather rough, they put in a sub heading "X shows natural beauty" in the full knowledge that they are inviting a host of spiteful comments.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Steve H on October 29, 2017, 02:08:18 PM
More loveliness last night - two Jews being burnt at the stake in Spain, and a priest being racked in England.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: jeremyp on October 29, 2017, 09:53:07 PM
More loveliness last night - two Jews being burnt at the stake in Spain, and a priest being racked in England.
Father Gerrard was a real person and he did, in fact, escape from the Tower of London, but it was in 1594, long before the Gunpowder plot.

As for the racking scene, I did try to look away, but the sound effects were pretty gruesome in themselves.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Walter on October 29, 2017, 10:51:47 PM
Father Gerrard was a real person and he did, in fact, escape from the Tower of London, but it was in 1594, long before the Gunpowder plot.

As for the racking scene, I did try to look away, but the sound effects were pretty gruesome in themselves.
yes , I watched with the sound turned right down eventually.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Robbie on October 29, 2017, 11:11:18 PM
I couldn't watch it, was either on my laptop or in the kitchen.  Charlie had it on and I agree about the sound effects.  Horrible.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Robbie on November 04, 2017, 10:02:34 PM
I won't be watching the last episode tonight, Charlie's gone round to his parents to fix something that's gone wrong in the kitchen and hopefully will have forgotten about it by the time he gets home. Peace and bliss. I will watch something nice and wholesome - Waking the Dead is on Drama at 10.20pm.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Steve H on November 06, 2017, 01:50:49 PM
Well, just to fill you in on what you missed - Fawkes was racked and had his fingernails pulled out before being hanged drawn and quartered, and Sir William Wade held up his heart for the crowd to see. The rest of the plotters were holed up in a country house and some were horribly burned when some damp gunpowder they'd laid out to dry caught fire, they all did a mass Butch-and-Sundance suicidal dash out in the end, and Father Garnett was hanged. All their heads were displayed on stakes. Catesby's young son escaped with Anne Vaux right at the end.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: floo on November 06, 2017, 02:16:23 PM
My husband has been watching the series, it definitely isn't my thing.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Shaker on November 06, 2017, 02:59:01 PM
Well, just to fill you in on what you missed - Fawkes was racked and had his fingernails pulled out before being hanged drawn and quartered, and Sir William Wade held up his heart for the crowd to see. The rest of the plotters were holed up in a country house and some were horribly burned when some damp gunpowder they'd laid out to dry caught fire, they all did a mass Butch-and-Sundance suicidal dash out in the end, and Father Garnett was hanged. All their heads were displayed on stakes. Catesby's young son escaped with Anne Vaux right at the end.
Unusually in film and TV  the severed heads were very realistic. Well done SFX department.
Title: Re: Gunpowder
Post by: Robbie on November 06, 2017, 06:11:53 PM
Thank you very much for the information Havelock Vetinari. From your name, I'm sure you're glad no animals (other than human) were involved.