Marie Antoinette – BBC 2

Well, it was better than The Tudors, Versailles and The Great: it did bear a reasonably close resemblance to actual historical fact.   And Marie Antoinette’s been given a raw deal by history, blamed for the failings of her husband and the failings of the ancien regime itself: she deserves a series telling events from her point of view.   This is genuinely trying to do that

It wasn’t bad at all. The first episode showed the difficulties she faced as a young outsider at etiquette-bound Versailles, under tremendous pressure to produce an heir but with a husband who wasn’t up to the task; and it did a reasonably good job of it.

Some bits were a bit daft, though.  Marie Antoinette was dispatched to the French border without a single chaperone/lady in waiting, only a dog.   The dog was sent back to Austria.   And she (Marie Antoinette, not the dog) hugged the sole French representative who’d arrived to meet her.   I know there must be budgetary constraints, but surely they could have managed a few more hangers-on.  Instead of a dog.  And the huggy bit was a bit silly too.   As was a load of courtiers singing “What shall we do with the drunken sailor?”.   And a manservant dressing up as a maidservant.

It was generally OK, though.   Not brilliant, but it’s having a decent go at showing events from Marie Antoinette’s viewpoint, and a sympathetic one.   I’ll definitely keep watching!

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