Is the Guy Fawkes TV drama too gory?

THERE have been complaints that the new BBC TV drama Gunpowder, about Guy Fawkes’s attempt to blow up Parliament, is horrifying (Mail). Well, what were people expecting? A Jacobean version of Downton Abbey? History is brutal and the BBC shouldn’t have to sugar-coat historical drama. EMILIE LAMPLoUGH, Trowbridge, Wilts.

GUESSING that the BBC would go over the top with the Gunpowder story, I opted for Lucy Worsley’s Nights At The Opera on BBC2. But this showed a gory production of Richard Strauss’s Salome. Why does every modern production need to be so realistic? The BBC obviously thinks its audience are hardened to horror. It’s got it wrong this time.

Mrs SALLY ARIS, Gawcott, Bucks.

I ENJOYED Gunpowder. Viewers who were disgusted could always have changed channels. The graphic scenes were justified by the story. After all, executions were family entertainment 400 years ago. DIANA TooTILL, St Austell, Cornwall.

I WAS shocked at the torture scenes where an elderly lady was crushed under a heavy weight, but life then

was brutal. The show was broadcast after the watershed with a warning. It seems people are more sensitive these days than they used to be.

BRIAN KEATING, Lewes, E. Sussex. GUNPOWDER gripped me from start to finish. It was brutal, but so was that most awful of historical times. L. GADSBY, Truro, Cornwall.

HOW can we criticise universities for trying to shield Generation Snowflake from the rich content of Shakespeare, then blame Gunpowder for depicting the depraved behaviour of the early 17th century? We must remember what really happened as we enjoy our fireworks. BRIAN CooPER, Watford, Herts.