New Worlds, Channel 4 - TV review: Restoration rebels fail to fire the imagination
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Six years have passed since English Civil War mini-series The Devil's Whore aired on Channel 4, but 20 years have passed in the semi-fictionalised world of the drama. In last night's sequel, New Worlds, another four-part mini-series, it was 1680, and Angelica Fanshawe (originally played by Andrea Riseborough, now Eve Best) was a middle-aged woman attempting to live out a quiet life in her secluded Oxfordshire estate. Meanwhile, in a Puritan colony across the Atlantic, one of the last fugitive regicides, William Goffe (James Cosmo), was hiding out from Charles II's men.
According to writers Martine Brant and Peter Flannery, the period's key theme is youthful idealism. In the Oxfordshire woods, Beth (Freya Mavor), the sheltered daughter of Angelica Fanshawe and Edward Sexby (John Simm in The Devil's Whore), fell in love with young outlaw Abe Goffe (Jamie Dornan), who also opened her eyes to the King's tyranny. Meanwhile, in the Massachusetts woods, Ned Hawkins, heir to the Hawkins Bay Company, had his eyes opened to the hypocrisy of claiming freedom from tyranny on stolen land, while falling for Hope (Alice Englert).
In pointed contrast to their Generation Y equivalents, these young people had firm principles, and weren't afraid to fight for them – by scalping a Native American, washing their hands in a deer's blood, or whatever other gory deed the occasion called for.
Yet, despite their derring-do, this new cast of Skins graduates and ex-models didn't quite live up to the Devil's Whore originals, a group that memorably included Peter Capaldi, Dominic West, John Simm and Michael Fassbender. Riseborough, with her 17th-century beauty and timeless screen presence, was particularly missed. Idealists might be inspiring in the pages of history books, but they don't make for captivating TV characters. Let's hope this idealism will be compromised and motivations complicated in part two.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments