**A well-made miniseries about women and their political role at a troubled time in history.** I've seen a few period series, and almost all of them stand out for the same reasons and fall into the same traps. I remember, in particular, the famous and successful series _The Tudors_ and another, less well-known, _The Borgias_, but there are others. And after seeing these series, I feel that they are similar to each other, although they address different times, contexts, figures and geographies. Some even say, and I understand why, that this miniseries (one season, ten episodes) is a prequel to _The Tudors_. It's not, the cast or crew are different, but it could be. The historical period covered, of about thirty years, begins with the accession to the throne of the House of York by the hand of Edward IV, after the deposition of the unstable King Henry VI and the first phase of the Wars of the Roses. Much of the series will focus on the figure of this willful and charismatic monarch and his military chief, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. However, the main dish of the series is the women and their ability to influence: the king makes a debatable marriage with Isabel Rivers, harming Warwick's interests and creating a rivalry between the Neville and Rivers clans. The “kingmaker” will then go to France, kneeling before another powerful woman: Margaret of Anjou, wife of the deposed…

With the deposition of Henry VI, England’s 15th century Wars of the Roses have seen the Yorkists triumph over the Plantagenets and the young Edward IV (Max Irons) claim the throne. With just one more battle required to clinch his victory, he is riding through the countryside with his king-making Earl of Warwick (James Frain) when he encounters the Lady Elizabeth Grey (Rebecca Ferguson) who implores him to return her late husband’s lands. He’s impressed by her courage and enraptured by her beauty, and so despite the protestations of the Earl, he embarks on a relationship that sees her crowned Queen. Just because she has the throne, however, it doesn’t mean that she is accepted by the aristocracy or by her new family, and that becomes clear when the enmity of her new mother-in-law, the Duchess Cecily (Caroline Goodall) and of his brother George, Duke of Clarence (David Oakes) begins to embroil her in a series of duplicitous politicking that sees Warwick and her husband try to manoeuvre and out manoeuvre each other, egged on by players from France, Normandy and Burgundy. This is a period of history rich in intrigue and betrayal, where oaths mean little and family even less when the kingdom is at stake. Ferguson impresses here, and there’s an engaging chemistry between her and both Max Irons and Janet McTeer who, as her mother Jacquetta, introduces something of the superstitious to…

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