Gunpowder (BBC1)

robfosters

robfosters

robfosters

Caporegime
Joined
1 Dec 2010
Posts
53,767
Location
Welling, London
Watched the first episode last night. I wasn't overly impressed. Found it a little tiresome and a bit slow. The production is good and its quite atmospheric, especially among the London streets at nighttime, but other than quite a gory execution scene (which wasn't as bad as is being made out), not a lot really happens. And if you think Kit Harrington was miserable as Jon Snow, You ain't seen nothing yet. Bloke looks like he might as well just kill himself. Even Mark Gatiss is not his usual brilliant self, but seems like he's just going through the motions. And the King talks like Billy Connolly, which is a bit of a historical boo boo as James I was from Edinburgh so wouldn't have sounded like that.

Only 3 episodes too, plus, anyone with an ounce of education knows how the story ends, so yeah, not great. Nowhere near as good as something like Taboo. Hopefully though it will pick up in episode 2 when the plot gets underway.
 
Good, wasn't just me then. Yes, it is very atmospheric and well produced, but as you say, everybody knows how the story ends, which reduces this to nothing more than unnecessary backstory really - people creeping about in the dark addressing each other as "Sir" and "Madam" as we are led to believe was the custom of the time.

Maybe I've seen too many horror films, but I too thought all the hoo-hah about the executions was over the top - okay, perhaps excessive for the time of day it was broadcast, but that's all. As far as the quartering was concerned, you just saw the swinging of the axe, with the rest left to the imagination. Even the disembowelling could have been made to appear far worse - not saying it SHOULD have been more graphically portrayed, just that it COULD have been.
 
Don't understand how people could moan about that, it's past the watershed and had warnings before it started. I watched it and didn't find it overly graphic in anyway.
 
I actually really enjoyed it. I agree the pacing was quite slow, especially the first scene, but for a first episode I can forgive that. I think it'll get better too, looking forward to next weeks.
 
We missed it live and watched it on catch up. Like most BBC dramas the sound was annoying as lots of background music and we couldn't make out the speech and of course with catchup no subtitles so had no idea what they were saying half the time
 
All 3 episodes on iPlayer.

Thought it was quite good yes a lot of it is dramatized and the torture and execution scenes are well done sort of don't show anything and leave it to the imagination a bit creepy.
 
Limpnoodle said:
I liked it but a few of the scenes were in the night and i cant see nothing when its dark, had no idea who was picking up that guys head, just too dark
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Gatesby took the head for burial. I assume the rest of him had been sent to the four corners of the kingdom as warnings against treason, which was the practice.
 
Just finished watching this. Thought it was very good overall (Even though you know the outcome). Really good acting all round. A solid 9/10 from me.
 
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