New Worlds is the long-awaited sequel to the 2008 drama The Devil’s Whore, in which Andrea Riseborough and John Simm appeared as a 17th-century pair whose beliefs drew them right to the epicentre of the English Civil War.
New Worlds once again created by Peter Flannery and Martine Brant, and featuring another eye-catching cast, displayed few of the same qualities as its predecessor. Set in the 1680s, two decades after the restoration of the monarchy, New Worlds struggled to evoke the same passion in its telling of idealism on both sides of the Atlantic. In England, Charles II was bringing back the autocratic rule of his father. In Massachusetts, the heirs of the Pilgrim Fathers still struggle to escape the English oppression whilst fending off the Native Americans.
Alongside this, play out two love stories both driven by the same romantic idealism and belief in social justice as Angelica and Sexby in The Devil’s Whore. Angelica Fanshawe, the fictional ‘whore’ devised by Flannery to portray the danger and lure of the political factions during the Civil War returns, now played by Eve Best. However, to those who once followed the glamour of The Devil’s Whore, Angelica’s transformation from wily troublemaker into Britain’s first hippy, dancing around her estate and preaching sermons on love and peace, might come as somewhat of a surprise. Her daughter, after witnessing a straggle of peasants from the local clay pit, instantaneously dedicates herself to a life of revolutionary struggle.
If all this idealism isn’t enough to put you off the show, unfortunately it’s not quite through yet. The piece does boast some superb cinematography, although some of the symbolic imagery and portrayal of the Native Americans was a little tenuous and cheesy at times. The competition between the story lines to outdo one another lead to an eclectic atmosphere, but unfortunately neither story line becomes truly gripping. The poor scripting and patronising storytelling suggested that, unlike its predecessor, the makers of New Worlds seemed to have no confidence in its viewers’ understanding of history, with characters telling us history rather than dramatising it. It might be aiming to be a historical drama, but it has little to secure its position as one.
Anastasia Kennedy
Photo: Property of mirror.co.uk