Bodicea?, Did anyone watch BBC broadcast?

Did anyone other than I watch the BBC broadcast of Boudicea?
What did you think?
Annabelle

Missed it.......guess I'll have to wait for the book? (Chortle.) Hope it was better than "Barbarian Queen," that one sucked.....and not in a happy way.

RON

I watched Boudicea. I'm an ER fan and I like watching Alex Kingston in anything she plays in. I thought it was good entertainment!

maggiemahone1

I like Alex Kingston too..she has passion for whatever she gets involved in...
Annabelle

Hi!

I watched all of Masterpiece's "Boudica" the other night with mixed feelings. I do applaud the efforts of those who try to make shows based in ancient/medieval history. I hope producers will attempt more of them in the future. I think the actress who portrayed Boudica did very well. I thought some things, like the druid and the Celtic warrior champion, were a bit forced and even out of place at times.

My other feelings on it has to do with quibbling over a good number of historical inaccuracies. For example the show "compressed" a 15 year span into a single year, giving the wrong impression that Boudica revolted shortly after Claudius died. Actually Nero had been emperor for about 6 years when the uprising occured. The most glaring inaccuracy I winced at throughout concerned the Roman military. In the show the Romans pitched their tents without any defenses, they never carried any pilum (their throwing javelins), and they fought like passive drones. That just wasn't anywhere close to the real methods that the Romans used to fight.

The final battle wasn't anywhere close to what actually happened. In the actual battle, the Celts walked uphill to meet the Romans. The Romans walked downhill to meet them, then threw their pilum shortly before they charged into the Celts. The Celts panicked and turned to run, but they were slowed down by their families who had come to watch the fight. The Romans slaughtered the packed crowd and killed about 80,000 people while losing less than 500. That may sound cruel, but the Romans were seeking revenge because Boudica's "take no prisoner" forces had already killed and mutilated about 80,000 Roman citizens and Roman sympathizers. That included women, too. Boudica escaped the battle but committed suicide shortly afterwards. I can see why the show changed that part a bit, its more noble these days to see someone going down swinging.


Lamorak De Galis

Lamorak
There is a thread on Boudicca in the Celtic Nations area of the site - in the Celts thread - I think it was started a while ago by Barddas.

The programme was shown on UK TV a number of weeks ago- and got fairly bad reviews

As an ex BBC producer, I wish to express in the strongest possible terms that the BBC had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with this. It was an ITV production and has been condemned by historians and critics alike.

Even the writer Andrew Davies, said at the Montreux television festival in Switzerland that he was trying to create another "Braveheart", which in itself was a complete abomination.

I had originally wanted to see this...BUT, after a very poor review of the first few minutes, I didn't want to waste seveeral hours of my life. Which I would never be able to bet back...LOL!!!

From the sound of it, I am very glad to have missed it....

From the sound of things, I didn't miss much here! Maybe "Barbarian Queen" would have been a better choice? At least it featured the twin talents of the late Lana Clarkson, famous for her death by gunshot at Phil Spector's house.....and for no extra charge you got Frank Zagrino, too! Boy, you just can't beat a lineup like that! (Why do I feel like Joe Bob Briggs here?)

Sounds pretty much like "Boudica" put the "B.S." in PBS. Back to The History Channel for this boy.

And no annoying pledge breaks, either!

RON

Awwww, c'MOAN, Wynn - tell us what you really think about this tosh!!

Whatever happened to Joe Bob Briggs? He was great as the host of "Monstervision" on TNT!

Dunno where old Joe Bob is...Probably still hanging out with Wanda Bodine an' them down at the drive in. I just sorta channeled him there for a bit....if you know what I mean and I think you do.

I really gotta start sendin' him checks if I'm gonna steal his stuff, though.

RON

I loved it when Nero said, "the people can't hack it". I could well imagine Nero saying that.

You know everytime they make a film something gets put in or taken out for artistic sake and the film loses something...
Bodicea was weak.
Braveheart as much as I love the movie and Mel Gibson was not historicially correct either...would take too much time so I guess the producers give us the best they can in the time alloted.
Annabelle

I caught just a glimpse of it. A few scenes involving the Romans, but not much more. Angela isn't much into films like that, so I didn't force it. It would be like her forcing me to sit through three hours of cooking progaming. It was on CBC, I believe. I'm sure it'll be played on the History channel, or something of the sort, soon.