Every line of the script brims with wicked hedonism, as this gripping period drama gets into its groove – and war rages between Fanning’s Catherine and Hoult’s Peter
The Great (Channel 4) is a pleasure. Often, as it careers around a lushly stylised Russian royal court in the 1760s, it’s concerned with pleasure directly: few comedies feature quite so many banquets, while the frequency with which The Great mentions or depicts cunnilingus must be record-breaking. It satirises the 18th-century Russian ruling class, and by extension all ruling classes, as chronic overindulgers, their eyes rolled too far back into their heads to see the damage they do.
But we at home, too, are gripping the arm of the sofa and gasping, because now The Great is into its second season, it is so assuredly in the groove. Every scene, every line of Tony McNamara’s script carries its own wicked hedonism: there is always something to enjoy that’s ruder, sillier or sharper than other shows would dare to include.
