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Is this the raunchiest royal drama yet? Critics are wowed by Julianne Moore's bonkbuster Mary & George about 17th Century Countess who groomed her son to seduce King James I - complete with a ménage-a-six, full frontal nudity and lesbian affairs

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Critics have been wowed by one of the raunchiest royal dramas to date - about a 17th Century Countess who moulded her son to seduce King James I. 

Sky's Mary & George, which aired this week,  is inspired by the outrageous true story of Mary Villiers (Julianne Moore), who taught her beautiful and charismatic son, George (Nicholas Galitzine), to seduce King James VI of Scotland and I of England (Tony Curran) and become his all- powerful lover.

Through outrageous scheming, the pair rose from humble beginnings to become the richest, most titled and influential players the English court had ever seen, and the King's most trusted advisors. 

Fans have praised the raunchy bonk-buster, for the mix of 'costume, plots and sex', while critics have dubbed it 'ludicrously good fun' and a 'royal romp of sex and scheming'.

The show also looks at early 1700s England, and its place on the world stage under threat from a Spanish invasion and rioters taking to the streets to denounce the King

Critics have been wowed by one of the raunchiest royal dramas to date - about a 17th Century Countess who moulded her son to seduce King James I (pictured Nicholas Galitzine and  Tony Curran in the show)

Critics have been wowed by one of the raunchiest royal dramas to date - about a 17th Century Countess who moulded her son to seduce King James I (pictured Nicholas Galitzine and  Tony Curran in the show)

Sky's Mary & George, which aired this week, is inspired by the outrageous true story of Mary Villiers ( Julianne Moore ), who taught her beautiful and charismatic son, George (Nicholas Galitzine), to seduce King James VI of Scotland and I of England (Tony Curran) and become his all- powerful

Sky's Mary & George, which aired this week, is inspired by the outrageous true story of Mary Villiers ( Julianne Moore ), who taught her beautiful and charismatic son, George (Nicholas Galitzine), to seduce King James VI of Scotland and I of England (Tony Curran) and become his all- powerful

The show also looks at early 1700s England, and its place on the world stage under threat from a Spanish invasion and rioters taking to the streets to denounce the King

The show also looks at early 1700s England, and its place on the world stage under threat from a Spanish invasion and rioters taking to the streets to denounce the King

Julianne Moore has been praised for her role in the show

Julianne Moore has been praised for her role in the show

The show is full of sex scenes between Nicholas Galitzine and Tony Curran

The show is full of sex scenes between Nicholas Galitzine and Tony Curran

Fans have called it the 'raunchiest show ever'

Fans have called it the 'raunchiest show ever' 

 

Tony Curran stars as King James I

Tony Curran stars as King James I

Prepared to stop at nothing and armed with her ruthless political steel, Mary married her way up the ranks, bribed politicians, colluded with criminals and clawed her way into the heart of the Establishment, making it her own.

And the audacious historical psychodrama about a treacherous mother and son who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England and the bed of its King has become and instant hit.

The Guardian praised it as 'magnificent' bringing attention to: 'poisonings by prune, lesbian affairs, murders, orgies – and a family so monstrous they make the Borgias look like the Waltons' 

 In a five-star review, they added: 'Moore is brilliant – cold, clever and always scintillating – and seems to be having the time of her life'.

The Times gave the show four stars, and compared the film to 2018's The Favourite, with 'colourful swearing, moments of off-centre humour and romping a go-go'.

'The more sexually fluid the better,' the reviewer wrote. 

'Here the candlelit couplings are bums-out (and everything else out) explicit, while looking like a work of art. In episode three a royally gay ménage-a-six (or "concert of the flesh") looks like some previously censored Caravaggio painting come to life'.

The audacious historical psychodrama about a treacherous mother and son who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England and the bed of its King has become and instant hit

The audacious historical psychodrama about a treacherous mother and son who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England and the bed of its King has become and instant hit

Critics have been wowed by Galitzine's performance - and looks

Critics have been wowed by Galitzine's performance - and looks 

The series is written by D.C. Moore (Killing Eve, Temple), inspired by Benjamin Woolley's nonfiction book The King's Assassin.

The series is written by D.C. Moore (Killing Eve, Temple), inspired by Benjamin Woolley's nonfiction book The King's Assassin.

The bawdy, lavish, 17th-century costume drama Mary & George (Sky Atlantic) follows the lad as he rises to claim a dukedom

The bawdy, lavish, 17th-century costume drama Mary & George (Sky Atlantic) follows the lad as he rises to claim a dukedom

Mary & George is produced by Hera Pictures in association with Sky Studios and is set stream on Sky Atlantic and NOW on March, 5

Mary & George is produced by Hera Pictures in association with Sky Studios and is set stream on Sky Atlantic and NOW on March, 5

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY 

THE GUARDIAN: 'The stakes increase with every episode as the family climbs higher up the rungs of the social and court ladder and the whole thing remains tremendous. Propulsive but grounded. Plotty but never messy. Exuberant and sumptuous without becoming bananas'.

Rating:

THE TIMES: 'Grounding all this are some tremendous performances: Moore is fiercely steely, though not without vulnerabilities, while as James I, Tony Curran roisters about with a goblet of wine in hand (“so cockstruck, it’s like a curse”)'

Rating:

THE IRISH TIMES: 'The vibe throughout Mary & George is of an art-house renaissance romp with the safety-catch off. In that respect, it forms part of a micro-milieu of candle-powered capers that includes Olivia Colman’s Oscar-winning The Favourite and the atrocious St Petersburg-set dramedy The Great, which cast an allegedly comedic eye at the conquests of Catherine The Great

THE TELEGRAPH: 'A look at the reign of James I is welcome – apart from the Gunpowder Plot, this isn’t a period of history that gets too much attention – but much of what happens is pure conjecture. A stylish drama, but with little substance'

Rating:

THE DAILY MAIL: 'The next few scenes become a soft porn coming-of-age fantasy, with fencing matches, dancing lessons and stable lads, until it's almost Fifty Shades Of Bridgerton. But the story rights itself when George returns to England and lands a job waiting on the king at banquets.'

Rating:

THE i: 'It’s a dazzling tale, sensationally told and gleefully led by Julianne Moore as Mary, a self-made social climber whose ruthless ambition stems from knowing that womanhood in early 1600s England was a rotten lot.'

Rating:

THE INDEPENDENT: 'There’s plenty of skin on show, and plenty of thrusting – of both hips and opinions. A few years ago, this would’ve felt like a radical way of dealing with period drama, invoking its squalor and tawdriness with a sharpness and vulgarity of language. But this sort of iconoclasm no longer feels fresh, indeed The Great – a foul-mouthed and bawdy show about Catherine, Empress of Russia, scripted by The Favourite writer Tony McNamara – has already lived and died on our TV schedules.'

Rating:

 

 

Mary, is described as a 'a mum from hell and a social climber extraordinaire'.

Society bible Tatler also compared the show to the Favourite.

'Judging from episode one, it's a perfect, gender-swapped version of that particular story. As an examination of using sexuality as power within the realms of British nobility, Mary & George is fast-paced and delightfully dry,' they wrote.

Meanwhile, The Irish Times called it 'dimly lit, misanthropic and wallpapered in bared flesh'.   

'There’s no arguing with the quantity: it has a bottomless supply of bonking and back-stabbing'.

The Telegraph said George, played by Nicholas Galitzine, looked like he had stepped 'straight off a catwalk'  

Mary, is described as a 'a mum from hell and a social climber extraordinaire'

Mary, is described as a 'a mum from hell and a social climber extraordinaire' 

Tony Curran as King James VI of Scotland and I of England, centre

Tony Curran as King James VI of Scotland and I of England, centre

'You don’t watch his acting, you just gaze at his cheekbones.' they wrote.

The Daily Mail said: 'This bawdy, lavish, 17th-century costume drama Mary & George (Sky Atlantic) follows the lad as he rises to claim a dukedom, as second sons sometimes do. Serials of this era follow two patterns, the literary or the lecherous, Wolf Hall or The Tudors. 

'This is definitely in the latter camp and, if you like your history raunchy, randy and sweary, it's great fun.'

Mary & George is produced by Hera Pictures in association with Sky Studios and is set stream on Sky Atlantic and NOW on now.

The series is written by D.C. Moore (Killing Eve, Temple), inspired by Benjamin Woolley's nonfiction book The King's Assassin.

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