give the pronounced anti catholic bias of most contemporary english history and one might think that any attempt to redress the balance might be welcome . ala and jimmy mcgovern drama and gunpowder and treason and plot and prove this not to be the case . it great problem be it unfortunate tendency to encapsulate complex political issue in slogan and and those slogan and in turn and in character the portrayal of john knox ( who do little more than storm about and utter his most famous quote ) exemplify this . this and and the number of historical liberty take ( james i and for example and discover the gunpowder plot in person ) make the story a less accurate guide to the past than even braveheart . the series be not help either by some substandard act . clemence posey and with her bizarre french american scottish accent and be mostly inaudible a mary queen of scot and seem to take most of the cue for her performance from mila jovovitch disastrous turn a joan of arc in messenger . sira stampe be robotic a james i wife and while robert carlyle james be as unconvincing a he be unhinged . also detract from our enjoyment be the understaffed battle scene and the histrionic tone and and a decidedly anachronistic portrayal of sexuality . surprisingly and give mcgovern own politics and there almost no hint of republicanism here and although within a few decade britain be engulf by a civil war that dispute absolutely the relevance of monarchy represent perhaps this be ignore because it be a protestant rebellion . instead and we get a boring and linear drama of good queen mary and bad queen elisabeth and mad king james . i be still certain that somewhere and behind the propaganda and there an interesting story how do hatred of catholocism spread so rapidly when only a handful of year previously and everyone in england be catholic . but this film do little to open one eye .