The Serpent Queen returns, more venomous than ever

The Serpent Queen
★★★★
Stan* (new episodes every Friday)

It’s been almost two years since the end of the first season of this lavishly produced account of France’s Italian-born monarch Catherine de Medici, and the wait has definitely been worth it.

In the season one finale, the brutal scheming of Catherine, played with flinty brilliance by Samantha Morton, reached a new high - or low - as she was forced to improvise a plan on the fly when her bonkers idea of “kidnapping” her own son was thwarted, inadvertently, by Francis himself, whose consumption caught up with him, in a (coughing) fit of bad timing.

Samantha Morton plays Catherine de Medici with flinty brilliance.

I won’t go into detail for the sake of those yet to experience the joy of watching Morton as a woman whose circumstances forced her to become a ruthless operator, but suffice to say things did not look good. But again, Catherine turned events to her favour, albeit after the death of her son Francis, and with more members of her court now aware of just how calculating she can be.

This new season opens a decade later, in 1572, and Catherine is coming to the end of her time as regent, as son Charles (Bill Milner) comes of age - this means she still wields some power, but it will no longer be as easy for her to manipulate events to her liking.

And tensions are rising in her divided court. During her decade as regent she’s been hoping to create a secular France, trying to take advantage of the population’s mistrust of the Catholic Church, much to the annoyance of the Guise brothers - Cardinal Charles (Ray Panthaki) and Francoise (Raza Jaffrey), who, hoping to reignite religious conflict, commit a heinous act in the opening episode.

Morton is joined by Minnie Driver as Elizabeth I in the new season.

Meanwhile, the Bourbons (Nick Burns as Antoine and Danny Kirrane as Louis, who again provide much of the series’ comic relief), are pinning their hopes on foreign sovereign Queen Elizabeth I - played by Minnie Driver, she is a central character this season. Then there’s a mysterious prophet named Edith (Isobel Jesper Jones) who, backed by a loyal following, further challenges the religious establishment.

With episodes dropping weekly, there were few available for preview, but enough to know that this season, with Morton and Driver as two of Europe’s great 16th-century monarchs going head-to-head, may be even more fun than the first.

The time jump means as well as new characters, some have been recast, including servant girl Rahima (now played by Emma McDonald) and Alexandre Willaume as the older Montmorency.

Unlike some recent historical dramas, The Serpent Queen isn’t wildly revisionist; it’s darkly funny, and breaks the fourth wall occasionally, but it’s not The Great or Dickinson, despite its rock soundtrack, occasional slang and the invention of some characters. But it’s based on Leonie Frieda’s book Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France, which aimed to mount a case in defence of Catherine, who for centuries has been depicted as a desperate and creepy old crone, obsessed with the occult (hence her “serpent queen” title).

There’s little question that she was fearsome (we can assume the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, instigated by de Medici, will form part of this season’s storyline) but Morton’s deliciously wicked depiction of her offers a more complex – and non-judgmental – take on her motivation and ambition. Even as she’s making some truly horrific decisions, this Catherine remains, at least partly, a sympathetic figure.

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