Drama Desperate Romantics Coming to BBC Two
Fact-based Series about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Jun 28, 2009
The BBC, always one for innovations in televisual entertainment, has hit upon a radically avant-garde idea for its summer season: a period drama. Okay, so maybe that has been done countless times before up to the point where top hats and massive collars are becoming a regular fixture on BBC Two much like comedy was in the 90s.
The latest entry to the genre, Desperate Romantics, follows the early days of the members of an artistic movement that came to be known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The six-part series is partly inspired by the factual book Desperate Romantics: The Private Lives Of The Pre-Raphaelites by Franny Moyle, who also acts as co-executive producer.
The Early Days of The Pre-Raphaelites Brotherhood
Now for the history lesson. The Pre-Raphaelites were a group of young artists, poets and critics in the 19th century who rebelled against what they saw as “the frivolous art of the day” and aimed to bring art back to a simpler form before the influence of Raphael and others. They wanted to create art that was true to nature and was less theatrical than the works that were being touted as masterpieces in their time.
This series follows the group’s inception, the people who touched upon their lives and the love triangles with their models that became the subject of much gossip and controversy in polite Victorian society.
Starring as the artists and their associates is a who’s who of rising talent in British acting which includes Aidan Turner (Being Human) as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Rafe Spall (A Room With A View, Hot Fuzz) William Hunt, Tom Hollander (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, In The Loop) as John Ruskin, Zoe Tapper (Survivors, Demons) as Effie Ruskin and Jennie Jacques (The Bill) as Annie Miller.
Desperate Romantics Episode One Synopsis
To help ease an unsuspecting audience into the world of experimental art and the huge egos that inhabit the world the creators have developed a fictional narrator character called Fred Walters who is based on some of the more fringe members of the Brotherhood. Hopefully this won't dumb it down too much.
The first episode follows the three founding members Rossetti, Hunt and John Millais (Samuel Barnett) as they try to launch their own exhibition after being rejected by the Royal Academy and with poverty creeping up on them the pressure is on. Meanwhile, hanger-on Fred Walters (Sam Crane) is fascinated with shop girl Lizzie Siddal (Amy Manson), who is about to become the most famous model in Britain.
Desperate Romantics Written by the Man Behind Occupation
Written for the screen by Peter Bowker, the man behind this year’s must-see TV event the Iraq War saga Occupation, hopefully Desperate Romantics will rise above the corsets and chivalry stereotype that pops up every other week.
In a BBC interview, he said: “This period saw great industrial and social change, and I think it was the beginning of the world of art as we recognise it now. These guys exploded at the same time as the phenomenon of daily newspapers, and art was arguably the most popular entertainment of the day: so that would explain how they became in some ways a cause celebre of the Victorians.”
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