By The Sword Divided

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About the time I was proudly carrying a Cadbury's Fingers tin full of 1/300th ECW figures backwards and forwards to the school wargaming club there was, on BBC 1 on Sunday nights "By The Sword Divided". Adding fuel to my ECW fire, the timing was perfect.

Fast forward 40 years and I saw the complete box set on Amazon. Bought it expecting a good trip down memory lane. If you fancy a similar trip, be warned - it hasn't aged well: some wooden acting, a few flimsy sets, and the soft focus, detract from an excellent script and plot. To be honest, the more times you rewatch the series, the less obvious these detractors become. 

Okay, the production isn't on a par with something like 'Wolf Hall', but this almost certainly paved the way for it. By The Sword is equally ambitious in its plot; a local, personal set of stories that tell a much grander story. Want to include the C17th anti-Irish, anti-Catholic narrative? That'll be two servants brawling in the wash house. 

When the TV and film industry is going through a phase of remaking classics for a modern audience, this would be ripe for a remake/reimagining. Alas, that's not going to happen. Which is a real shame.

Historically fairly accurate, even if some facts are tweaked to allow the story's characters to be more involved, and at times central to the timeline of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

And in case you watch it, and start wondering "I know that voice"... dashing young cavalier Tom will grow up to be 'boring' David Archer from Ambridge.

Lady Anne looks familiar to those of us of a certain vintage, she was one half of the Nescafé Gold Blend couple (that's Taster's Choice for those of you from the former colonies).

The second series has faired a bit better. Clearly the budget for this series was quite a bit bigger. Better storyline, acting and script too.



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