stuart-halliday-943-557698 Reviews

Gunpowder (2017)

Unbalanced History

[5/10 · 30 October 2017]

This is a good series, excellent acting. The moderate rating reflects my concern about the balance. There certainly was religious persecution during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I which is to be deplored.Probably near 100 Catholics were martyred in England alone between Elizabeth's accession in 1558 and the Gunpowder plot. 100 in 50 years is a lot; but compare that to the near 300 Protestants martyred in only five years under Mary Tudor. Or to the thousands slaughtered by the Spanish Inquisition from the 15th century in Spain and the Low Countries - to say nothing of the tens of thousands of unfortunate victims in Spain's colonies of Peru and Mexico). The Catholic Encyclopedia creditably points out that Elizabeth began her reign with true toleration in mind - witnessed by the fact that there were no religious executions at all between 1558 and 1570. Things changed with the actions of the reprehensible Pope Pius V who after acceding in 1570 excommunicated Elizabeth and urged her subjects to rebel and to assassinate her. Hardly surprising that she was urged to take a tougher line. Pius's plans ultimately backfired; but he had created a problem for English Catholics - support Pope or Monarch was their only choice. Blame for what happened after falls mostly on the shoulders of that psychopathic prelate. As regards the gunpowder plotters themselves, I feel the series was misleading in portraying them as worthy patriots and genuinely religious men. Think on it; they put nearly 3 tons of gunpowder in place. Had they succeeded the magnitude of the blast would have taken out not only the Parliament building and all inside but half of London besides. Total casualties might have been 10,000 or more. Tease this up proportionately and we are talking about devastation on Hiroshima levels. They must have known how extensive the damage and death would have been - several were ex-soldiers and used to gunpowder. These men would probably have welcomed a subsequent Spanish invasion to forcibly drag their countryman back to a now alien faith. They were traitors and potential mass-murderers. No sympathy from me, I'm afraid.

Vikings (2013–2020)

Let's see the Vikings as they really were

[1/10 · 30 January 2015]

This series seems to go down incredibly well with most viewers praising it for its accuracy. I find this astonishing. Accurate?? Battles between the Vikings and Northumbrians always sees the Vikings victorious and with zero casualties. Do you seriously think this is an accurate depiction of a medieval battle? I mean, seriously??

I am a Northumbrian, born and bred, and quite frankly find this series an absolute insult. Can I just ask why most of you guys who like it put the Vikings on such a pedestal? We were one of the Viking's victims along with the Scots, Irish, French, Italians (the list is endless!). These people raped, murdered and slaughtered their way across Europe, yet this series more or less sets them up as some sort of an icon of warrior purity instead of showing them for what they really were - a set of hairy-assed Nazis, good at killing defenceless monks and unarmed villagers, stuffing their guts with stolen meat and drink and singing praises to their negative gods of destruction and murder.

Can somebody please do a film about Alfred the Great showing these fascists getting their bottoms soundly kicked? It would at least make a change.