Primetime porn BBC calls ‘a delicious treat’
QUELLE HORREUR Beeb’s new French-made series on Louis XIV sparks fury over most graphic sex scenes ever seen on TV... QUELLE HORREUR ...but French viewers insist REAL scandal is that the characters all speak English
IT’S the new BBC blockbuster that cost £21m (€27m) to make, but it seems not a lot of that was spent by costumes.
Versailles has been described by the broadcaster as ‘ a delicious treat’ for viewers but politicians and family rights campaigners aree outraged by its nudityy and graphic sex sceneses and have described it as ‘porn dressed up in a cravat and tights’.
The lavish Frenchmade series – whichch depicts the decadent andnd debauched life of France’s’ Sun King, Louis XIV – is set to be the most sexually graphic costume drama ever shown on TV here.
The first episode includes gay sex, a cross-dressing prince and a queen with a penchant for black dwarves. In one scene, the king, played by English actor George Blagden, is seen burying his head between his mistress’s thighs.
The drama has been shown in France and caused immediate controversy but critics there were more upset with producers for ‘dumbing down’ the story of one of the country’s most iconic monarchs – and for filming the series in English, meaning French viewers had to make do with subtitles.
But over in Britain, it is the sex scenes that are getting campaigners hot under the collar.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, said: ‘There are channels where, if you wish to view this sort of material, you would have to pay for it. BBC viewers don’t have a choice. They have to pay for it whether they approve or not.
‘Is this an example of the BBC dumbing down and seeking more sensationalised programming? That’s an arms race to the bottom – quite literally in this case.’
Makers Canal Plus have also ramped up the violence. Graphic scenes of torture in the opening episode include one of the king’s enforcers bludgeoning a man to death. In a later episode a man’s hand is severed at the wrist.
The BBC negotiated the rights to show Versailles as part of its bid to secure a hit to rival the success of ITV’s Downton Abbey.
It is yet to confirm a broadcast time for the 10-part series, which is expected to be screened in May.
Asked if the BBC would be running the drama in full, a spokesman said: ‘Why wouldn’t we be?’
Sue Deeks, BBC head of programme acquisition, added: ‘Versailles will be a delicious treat for BBC2 viewers.’
But Norman Wells, director of the British Family Education Trust, said: ‘It is very difficult to see whose benefit is being served by showing such highly graphic and explicit scenes on TV.’
Sam Burnett of Mediawatch UK, said: ‘Dressing up pornography and violence in a cravat and tights doesn’t make it cultural.’