Oxford's oldest student newspaper

Independent since 1920

Review: New Worlds

★★☆☆☆
Two Stars

The most apt word to describe this new historical drama is ‘confusing’. The programme itself was no more enlightening as to what was going on than the many adverts shown in the run up to it and, alas, the adverts showed the only bits that were particularly exciting, whilst the majority of the ‘drama’ was a complicated mess of long, idealistic speeches about social equality and justice.

Set in the 1680s, during the reign of Charles II, the programme is a vague sequel to The Devil’s Whore, (2008) starring John Simm and Andrea Riseborough. In comparison to the passion and intensity of The Devil’s Whore, however, New Worlds falls desperately short. Part of the problem lies in there being far too much going on; the storyline is split between England and Massachusetts, preventing any flow in the action because of the frequent switching between the two. It also means there are a lot of different characters to get to grips with and so, despite a promising cast of up-and-coming actors, there was little opportunity for anyone to truly shine or for viewers to develop any real affinity with them. In the first episode two love stories were introduced almost immediately, between Beth and Abe in England, the classic case of love across the classes, and in America, between Hope and Ned. Everything happens too fast; Beth (Freya Mavor) is very quick to go from feisty abducted aristocrat, to locking lips with the renegade ‘Robin Hood’ who stole her, not to mention her chance discovery of a letter to her mother, conveniently lying in an open chest, revealing the truth of her parentage.  

The point is absolutely no tension was allowed to build up, rendering the programme ultimately unexciting. The hunt for the regicide William Goffe, yet another element crammed into the first episode, had the potential to invoke some thrill and suspense, but fell completely flat, as did Goffe when he jumped off the cliff. We all saw that one coming. In fact, the only surprising bit here was the liberty the writers took with history; Goffe did flee to America, but he appears to have lived well into old age there, as opposed to being chased and committing suicide in a grand act of defiance.  They really need not have bothered.

Hopefully, now that all of the background information is covered, the next episode will be more engaging, and room will be allowed in the script for the characters, and the viewers, to breathe a bit. A slightly less frantic approach is definitely needed. It would be unfair to completely write-off the series, which certainly has the potential in its subject-matter and cast to be both interesting and compelling, in light of this first episode.  What is a shame, however, and which seems irredeemable for this series, is that the writers feel the need to add drama to what is already a very exciting sequence of historical events; we don’t need clichéd stories of forbidden lovers to find history interesting, and the way these are immediately presented to us in New Worlds is not only ineffective, but patronising.

De-clutter the plot and focus on the history and it could be a hit.  

Check out our other content

Most Popular Articles