344 The Devil's Crown

First  viewed : 30  April  1978

Having  got  their  fingers  sizzled  with  the  infamous  Churchill's  People  three  years  earlier  , the  Beeb  stuck  this  new  historical  drama  series  safely  away  on  BBC2  at  9pm  on  a  Sunday  night  with  a  late  night  repeat  on  Fridays. The  Devil's  Crown  followed  the  fortunes  of   the  first  three  Plantagenet  kings  ( Henry  II , Richard  I , John )  from  Henry's  marriage  to  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine  to  the  death  of  John.  It  strove  to  be  historically  accurate  so  it  was  helpful  to  have  such  larger  than  life  characters  centre  stage.

We  started  watching  it  as  a  family- a  pretty  rare  event  - but  my  dad's  participation  didn't  last  long. What  made  him  most  difficult  to  live  with  was  his  mania  about  noise. Whether  it  was  due  to  autism, particularly  sensitive  hearing  or  his  earlier  training  to  be  a  monk  in  Ireland  ( needless  to  say  he  didn't  make  it  ) he  wanted  to  live  in  a  very  quiet  house. His  mortal  fear  was  the  next  door  neighbours  hearing  some  noise  from  our  house  and  deciding  it  was  OK  to  blast  pop  music  through  the  walls. And  so  he  started  watching  this  with  us  but  every  time  someone  raised  their  voice  - which  was  pretty  much  every  other  line - he  got  up  and  adjusted  the  volume. After  about  ten  minutes  of  this  Mum  protested  that  he  was  being  ridiculous  and  ruining  the  programme  upon  which  he  left  us  to  it.

We  didn't  last  beyond  the  first  episode. The  programme  had  a  decent  script  but  it  was  hemmed  in  too  much  by  the  budget.  The  characters  declaimed  in  front  of  painted  backdrops  that  looked  like  they'd  last  been  used  on  Sir  Prance-A-Lot.  At  one  point  Henry  plucks  a  peach  from  a  metal  tree. All  the  battles  had  to  be  covered  by  messengers  arriving  with  news after  the  event. It  was  just  too  stage-y   and  claustrophobic  for  a  commitment  to  watch  thirteen  55  minute  instalments.

Nevertheless  it  was  a  key  series  for  some  of  its  cast. Playing  Henry  was   the  breakthrough  role  for  Brian  Cox  who's  never  looked  back  and  John  Duttine  also  scored  as  John   although  he's  less  prominent  these  days . Simon  Gipps-Kent  pops  up  again  as  the  ill-fated  Arthur  of  Brittany.

The  series  has  never  been  re-broadcast  or  released  on  DVD  but  it  was  popular  in  France  and  at  the  time  of  writing  can  be  viewed  on YouTube  as  a  result.