The New Murrey and Blue blog

I know this is not directly relevant to Richard III, but both William the 1st and Harold II were his direct ancestors, so…

I have been looking forward to the BBC’s new ‘historical drama’, King and Conqueror, for a year, but having watched it on BBC iPlayer, I’m afraid I was bitterly disappointed.  I had seen stills, so I knew the clothes and armour weren’t authentic and that the facial hair was reversed (William had a moustache and Harold hasn’t – it should be the other way around!), but I could accept some inaccuracies. It was the story and portrayals of the characters I was most interested in.

However, first of all, everything was drab and dingy (literally the dark ages!) and the sound quality and dialogue were bad. The nobles were dressed in drab browns (even at Edward’s coronation!) when they would have actually worn bright silks and rich colours

Then, the first episode had me constantly shouting: “That never happened!”, “Her name is wrong!” and “He wasn’t there!”, constantly!

Now I’m all for dramatic licence. Many historical facts are disputed or unknown and it’s fine to fill in the gaps for a good story, however it’s not fine to ignore great dramatic events that were real and instead insert totally made up and unbelievable drivel!

They could have had Sweyn, Harold’s black sheep of a brother, abducting the Abbess of Leominster and murdering their cousin, Beorn. Instead, Beorn didn’t exist and Sweyn is depicted as having claimed ‘Droit de Seigneur’ at a wedding, which wasn’t ever a thing!  And Harold kills him, having claimed the Earldom of Wessex before both his father, Godwin, and Sweyn have died! Didn’t happen!

They could have had Godwin calling on God to strike him dead if he’s lying, and then choking on some bread – isn’t that dramatic enough?

They could have had Harold’s parley with his treacherous brother, Tostig, (who has allied with the Viking Harald Hardråda), where Tostig asks Harold what he will give to Hardråda if they leave without a fight and Harold replies: ‘Six feet of good English soil – or a bit more as he’s taller than most men!” How dramatic would that have been?! Instead they have Tostig protect Harold in the battle, only for Harold to kill him by mistake as he’s fighting – didn’t happen!

They could have had Harold’s shipwreck and ‘rescue’ from captivity by William, with them going on campaign and Harold saving two of his men from quicksand singlehandedly.  That would have been great! Instead they have them sharing a bathing hut together in Flanders and foiling an assassination attempt – never happened!

They reduced the Battle of Stamford Bridge to an ambush while the vikings were in their tents. It could have been so much better – what about the lone axeman holding the bridge against the English until one floated under in a barrel and thrust a spear up between his legs – dramatic and gory!

They made out Harold and William had saved each other’s lives and were ‘friends’ before the Battle – no way! They may have respected each other but they never trusted each other.

They had King Edward the Confessor as a deranged mummy’s boy, who eventually snaps and murders her by battering her with his crown! And he dies after having been king for roughly five minutes whereas in reality he was king for over twenty years!

They had Matilda, William’s wife, as some kind of Machiavellian torturer!

People were left out (Harold’s brothers, Gyrth and Leofwine; most of his children, and they were far too young at the time of the battle; Morcar’s brother, Edwin; Gryffyrd of Wales and Harold’s campaign against him was completely omitted; Edward the Exile – whom Edward the Confessor sent for as a possible heir, and his son Edgar Aetheling – apparently didn’t exist either.

People included had wrong names (Gunnhild instead of Edith for Harold’s sister; Aethel for Edward’s brother Alfred; wrong names for two of Harold’s children), were in places they wouldn’t have been (William at Edward’s coronation when he would have been just 14!) or had titles they wouldn’t have had (Morcar as Earl of Mercia – he wasn’t that ever!)

The final episode was the best (or least bad). At least it had the appearance of Halley’s comet, even if it was about six months too late!

The Battle of Hastings itself was authentic in some respects (not the costumes): the Anglo-Saxons formed a shield wall and William had archers and cavalry; William was unhorsed and thought to be dead, causing the Normans to flee and the Saxons to break and follow them, with Harold yelling ‘Hold the line! ‘

But he wouldn’t have fought William hand to hand, nor did Morcar act like a Stanley, and watch to see who would win.

One thing I did like: Harold wasn’t killed by an arrow in the eye, which is now thought to be Norman propaganda (because William saw Harold as an oath-breaker and they were punished by blinding). He was killed in battle and THEN William took an arrow and plunged it into his eye, so they could say it was a punishment by God. This was quite a clever plot line.

There was a stunning cast including James Norton, who also co-produced it, and Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, but they couldn’t rescue this shambles.

It reminded me of the totally untrue account of Richard III by Shakespeare. I just hope not as many people believe it.