Finding Tutankhamun's final resting place
Prime time Sunday evenings mean one thing – time to watch a lavish drama. While the BBC continues to broadcast the second series of Poldark, ITV has just finished its run of Victoria. And with no Downton Abbey to fill its space, the channel is launching a new, four-part series which has a surprise link to the show. Tutankhamun (ITV, 9pm) charts the discovery of the boy-king’s tomb, an expedition financed by Lord Carnarvon, whose family seat was Highclere Castle, where Downton was filmed. Here, Sam Neill plays the eccentric, high-living aristocrat. “I found the story intriguing, having just basic general knowledge about it before this came along,” says the New Zealander, when asked why he accepted the role. “But also I liked the character. Which is important if you’re going to spend quite a few weeks with him. I thought it would be fun to play. “And, of course, the other consideration is where are you going to film it? We couldn’t go to Egypt for insurance reasons. So we ended up in South Africa, right beside Namibia. An incredible landscape. It was a privilege to do. “But it was hot and windy. We’d get back from work, red-eyed with tears streaming down our faces from the dust.” The drama begins in 1905, as Howard Carter (played by Max Irons), the English archaeologist and Egyptologist sets out to find long-lost antiquities in the Valley of the Kings, but his singlemindedness could threaten the dig and his career. Thankfully, a friendship with Lord Carnarvon helps pave the way for more discoveries. Neill claims he was impressed with how the crew recreated the setting for the story, as well as the artefacts found during the dig: “They completely recreated authentically the interior of those tombs with some amazing props. Exact replicas of what they found and how they found it. It was very well researched and crafted. “The historic scene involving breaking the seal of the outer chamber was special to film. You did feel like you were discovering something quite marvellous.” Almost a century on from Carter and Carnarvon’s discoveries, Neill thinks the men should still be admired, although they should perhaps be seen as something of a cautionary tale. “It is an extraordinary thing what Carter did,” says the actor. “But the problem with doing something as brilliant as that is nothing is going to be quite as good ever again, is it?