''The Devil's Whore'' (released as ''The Devil's Mistress'' in North America) is a four-part television series set during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

, produced by

Company Pictures Company Pictures is an independent British television production company which has produced drama programming for many broadcasters. It was set up in 1998 by Charles Pattinson and George Faber, colleagues at BBC Films. Their first film was ''Mo ...

for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in 2008. It is about the adventures of the fictional Angelica Fanshawe and the historical

Leveller The Levellers were a political movement active during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its populis ...

soldier

Edward Sexby Colonel Edward Sexby (or Saxby; 1616 – 13 January 1658) was an English Puritan soldier and Leveller in the army of Oliver Cromwell. Later he turned against Cromwell and plotted his assassination. Biography Sexby was born in Suffolk in 161 ...

and spans the years 1636 to 1660. It was written by

Peter Flannery Peter Flannery (born 12 October 1951) is an English playwright and screenwriter. He was born in Jarrow, County Durham and educated at the University of Manchester. He is best known for his work while a resident playwright at the Royal Shakespear ...

, who began working on the script in 1997. It is believed to have had a budget of £7 million. It was followed by a sequel series, '' New Worlds'', in 2014.

Production

The series was filmed in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. This caused some negative comment from reviewers but the producers maintained that they had been unable to find suitably "old English" locations in England.

Cast

* John Simm as

* Dominic West as

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...

Andrea Riseborough Andrea Louise Riseborough (born 20 November 1981) is an English actress and producer. She made her film debut with a small part in ''Venus'' (2006), and has since appeared in more prominent roles in '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008), '' Never Let Me Go ...

as Angelica Fanshawe *

Michael Fassbender Michael Fassbender (born 2 April 1977) is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Award ...

as Thomas Rainsborough *

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, writer and musician. He portrayed the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker in '' The Thick of It'' (2005–2012), for ...

as King Charles I * Jeremy Crutchley as Toop *

Tom Goodman-Hill Tom Goodman-Hill is an English actor of film, television, theatre and radio. Early life Brought up near Newcastle upon Tyne, he qualified as a teacher before turning to acting. During his time in Newcastle, he regularly acted in amateur perform ...

John Lilburne John Lilburne (c. 161429 August 1657), also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after the English Civil Wars 1642–1650. He coined the term "'' freeborn rights''", defining them as rights with which eve ...

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in the BBC One sitcom '' dinnerladies'' (1998–2000), Veronica Ball in the hit Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'' (2004–2007), Mart ...

Elizabeth Lilburne Elizabeth Lilburne ( fl. 1641–1660), born Elizabeth Dewell, was a Leveller and the wife of John Lilburne. Biography The daughter of the London merchant Henry Dewell (d. in or after 1655), no details of Elizabeth's life prior to her marriage t ...

, John's wife *

Tim McInnerny Tim McInnerny ( ; born 18 September 1956) is an English actor. He is known for his many roles on stage and television, including as Lord Percy Percy and Captain Darling in the 1980s British sitcom ''Blackadder''. Early life McInnerny was bor ...

as Joliffe * Robyn Olivia as Angelica's mother * Robert Coleman as Angelica's father * Ben Aldridge as Harry Fanshawe * Harry Lloyd as

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist caval ...

* Melodie Abad as

Queen Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She wa ...

Ian Redford Ian Petrie Redford (5 April 1960 – 10 January 2014) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a midfielder or forward. He played for Dundee before joining Rangers for a then Scottish record transfer fee. At Rangers he won in three d ...

Earl of Manchester Duke of Manchester is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain, and the current senior title of the House of Montagu. It was created in 1719 for the politician Charles Montagu, 4th Earl of Manchester. Manchester Parish in Jamaica was named afte ...

* Angelica Jopling as the young Angelica * Gabriel Rybko as young Harry * Robert van Vuuren as The Devil

Episodes

North American release

The series was released on DVD in North America in 2011. Retitled ''The Devil's Mistress'', it presents the series as two two-hour episodes.

Reception

Critical reception was positive, though there was some criticism of the omission of some figures and events (such as

John Pym John Pym (20 May 1584 – 8 December 1643) was an English politician, who helped establish the foundations of Parliamentary democracy. One of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War, his use ...

, the

Earl of Bedford Earl of Bedford is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England and is currently a subsidiary title of the Dukes of Bedford. The first creation came in 1138 in favour of Hugh de Beaumont. He appears to have been degraded fr ...

, Sir

Thomas Fairfax Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17 January 161212 November 1671), also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax, was an English politician, general and Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. An adept and talented command ...

, Sir

Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles PC (31 October 1598 – 17 February 1680) was an English statesman, best remembered as one of the Five Members whose attempted arrest by Charles I in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War. When fighti ...

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (18 February 16099 December 1674), was an English statesman, lawyer, diplomat and historian who served as chief advisor to Charles I during the First English Civil War, and Lord Chancellor to Charles II fr ...

, Colonel Sir John Hutchinson,

Henry Ireton Henry Ireton ((baptised) 3 November 1611 – 26 November 1651) was an English general in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell. He died of disease outside Limerick in November 16 ...

and the

Bishops' Wars The 1639 and 1640 Bishops' Wars () were the first of the conflicts known collectively as the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which took place in Scotland, England and Ireland. Others include the Irish Confederate Wars, the First ...

) and the fictionalisation of others (such as the suggestion that Cromwell orchestrated Rainsborough's death, of Rainsborough not Sexby being a close friend of Cromwell's, Sexby's going to Ireland and the losing of his arm and Sexby's assassination attempt on Cromwell). Critical reception of the first episode was positive, with Nancy Banks-Smith of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' praising Capaldi's performance and calling the drama "rollicking", "well written and acted" and marked by "a quite serious attempt to explain the underlying issues". ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' also praised Capaldi, along with the lack of anachronisms and the treatment of the era's sexual politics. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' called it "bodice-rippingly melodramatic" and showing a tension between Flannery's "desire to get as much real political fact in as he can and the ... requirement that a primetime series should liven up the party with sexual tension and historical glamour". ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' called it "a curious beast - mannered and theatrical, with modern-looking faces speaking period dialogue in an historical dreamscape" and "If not entirely successful, ... the best sort of failure - unusual, brave and fascinating". Another ''Times'' critic criticised it for "slightly too much reading history backwards here, almost making Angelica look like a modern woman travelled back in time" and its "frankly unnecessary bedroom scenes ... slipped in, presumably to demonstrate her liberated nature", whilst overall praising the episode as "gripping", "cutting" and "lively" and in particular noting that Simm played Sexby "strikingly". The ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves ...

'' also noted it as "an intelligent, richly textured labour of love". John Adamson, a non-stipendiary by-fellow in History at Peterhouse, Cambridge, criticized the series as "a cartoon-strip version of the Civil War".

Awards and nominations

The series won in the Best Drama Series category at the 35th Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Awards (2009) and Riseborough won in the Best Actress Category.

Michele Clapton Michele Clapton is a British costume designer. She won at the BAFTA Awards for the four-part television series ''The Devil's Whore'' in the category of Best Costume Design. She won an Emmy Award for the costumes in the hit HBO show '' Game of ...

won at the

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

, in the category of Best Costume Design.

References

External links

* *
Review, Leicester Mercury
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Whore, The 2000s British television miniseries Television series set in the 17th century Channel 4 original programming 2008 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings 2000s British drama television series English Civil War films Channel 4 television dramas Television series by All3Media English-language television shows Cultural depictions of Charles I of England