For those of us who have gazed at our children and thought, “Miraculous fruit of my loins, blood of my blood, bone of my bone – how can I best monetise you?” Ladies, we have our answer. Mary Villiers, played with gorgeous relish by Julianne Moore, is here to show us the way.
Mary & George is the tale of the former – born into 17th-century social nothingness – who uses the latter, her preternaturally handsome second son (played beautifully in all senses by Nicholas Galitzine), to secure the family fortunes in the most gloriously audacious manner. Based on The King’s Assassin, Benjamin Woolley’s nonfiction account of a family that makes the Borgias look like the Waltons, and written by DC Moore (Temple, Killing Eve), it is more fun than I can possibly tell you. It has the narrative rigour of The Favourite, the disciplined panache of The Great, just a dash of The Tudors’ excess and enough sex to keep Bridgerton fans happy too. This is a great combination.
