What to watch
Move over English queens Victoria and Elizabeth II, television has discovered a new royal favourite. Last year, it was Helen Mirren saucing it up while quashing rebellion. In 2020, Elle Fanning steps into the corsets and crown as Russia’s Catherine the Great.
However, The Great (streaming on Neon and screening on SoHo2) is a very different pot of borscht to the serio-political machinations of 2019’s Catherine the Great. This is a black comedic romp, very much in the same vein as writer Tony McNamara’s Bafta-winning
The Favourite. Yes, not only does it share a similar 18th-century setting, rabbit-loving monarch and bedroom antics, but also possesses the same sharp wit and bawdy humour that made McNamara’s and Deborah Davis’ look at Queen Anne’s court such a hit with audiences.
This 10-part, self-described ‘‘occasionally true story’’, opens with the ‘‘gorgeously optimistic’’ young Catherine (Fanning) excited about her impending marriage to Russian ruler Peter the Great.
‘‘They have bears – I may get one, they look cute,’’ she enthuses, before heading to court to meet her intended beau. However, Peter (Nicholas Hoult), rather more preoccupied with entertaining his mates, greets her with a dismissive, ‘‘you look taller in your portrait, send her back’’, a jocular jape that only heightens her increasing nerves.
Still, after an invasive check to see if her ‘‘interior wall has been breached’’, the wedding takes place that evening, followed by a less than generous introduction to love-making.
Unperturbed, Catherine decides to focus on finding culture and education in her new surrounds, and is delighted when Peter allows her to start a school.
That is, until he discovers it is aimed at women, news that prompts him to call for its incineration. ‘‘Women are for seeding, not reading,’’ he informs his seething wife.
Dismayed, Catherine decides escape is the only way out, but when even that is thwarted, she and her maid Marial (Phoebe Fox) decide to explore a loophole in the succession law: if the emperor dies, the crown goes to the empress.
Based on his own 2008 play, McNamara has crafted a pithy, perfectly pitched satire populated by memorable characters and filled with witty bon mots.
At its heart are terrific performances by Hoult and Fanning. While his emperor feels like a Blackadder-esque relative of his Favourite character Robert Harley and the aforementioned 1980s sitcom’s Lord Flashheart, he is also a brilliantly boorish, unique creation. Whether it’s claiming to be progressive for banning beards in the under 50s, telling his courtiers to ‘‘take the empress to the other women to speak of hats’’, or wistfully reminiscing with his mummified mother, Hoult’s Peter is certainly someone you won’t forget.
He’s equally matched by the surprisingly funny Fanning. Best known for her serious turns in the likes of Maleficent, The Neon Demon and The Beguiled, here she cuts loose, with dazzling effect. It’s extremely satisfying to watch her character transform from naive ingenue to scheming matriarch, in the opening episode.
Fans of corseted comedies and Armando Iannucci-esque (The Thick of It, Veep, The Death of Stalin), dialogue-driven humour should definitely check this out.
Meanwhile, those looking for a new reality show fix, should head to Netflix for The Big Flower Fight.
It attempts to transplant the successful British Bake Off format to the world of floral design. Ten teams of two from around the globe have been gathered together in a giant dome in the English countryside for some serious ‘‘avant gardening’’.
Forget potted plants and pretty posies, the landscape architect, event florist and visual artist duos have to create ‘‘bigger than big than big’’ installations.
‘‘Massive, titanic insects’’ are the first challenge, with bamboo, hessian and coconut husks used to flesh out metal frames, before there’s a rush to the onsite nursery for the pick of the flowers, which must not only look spectacular, but attract real insects.
As with Bake Off and similarly formatted shows such as Sewing Bee and Portrait Artist of the Year, the contestants are selected as much for their personalities as their mad skills.
On that count, Flower Fight doesn’t disappoint, with the 20 competitors containing plenty of flair and flamboyance.
The creators also follow the Bake Off recipe when it comes to the hosts, with the choice of Vic Reeves and Natasia Demetriou clearly inspired by the pairing of Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig. Unfortunately, they are given extremely little to do, while sole regular judge (joined each week by a guest expert) florist-tothe-stars Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht hogs the limelight.