It’s France, 1560, and the queen wants a new maid for her son’s forthcoming coronation. Which queen? The Italian “commoner” regarded as the offspring of the most despised family in Europe who, in a truly astonishing transformation, became one of the most powerful – and vilified – women of the 16th century. The one who introduced tobacco, ladies’ drawers, broccoli and ballet to the French, and was said to have instigated the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre of 1572, in which the entire Protestant Huguenot population of Paris was murdered in a few hours. We’re talking about Catherine de’ Medici, referred to in the show’s title The Serpent Queen (StarzPlay) or, in TV shorthand, the one played by Samantha Morton. “Don’t look in her mirror,” a servant hisses at Rahima (Sennia Nanua) – the poor innocent chosen to carry today’s royal tray. “It could suck the soul right out of you.”
For the past 400 or so years history has painted Catherine de’ Medici as fearsome, ruthless, scheming, desperate, and sinister: a creepy old crone mixing potions in her dark chamber. Hence the “serpent queen” sobriquet and archetypal StarzPlay thrash-rock-goth opening in which Morton – divine, as ever – sweeps across a chequered floor in voluminous black skirts spewing forth snakes. Which also happens to be a dead ringer for the series two title sequence of Blackadder. If you know, you know.
