Charles II: The Power and The Passion

Charles II: The Power and The Passion
Directed by	Joe Wright
Produced by	Kate Harwood
Written by	Adrian Hodges
Starring	Rufus Sewell Martin Turner Ian McDiarmid
Music by	Robert Lane
Cinematography	Ryszard Lenczewski
Edited by	Paul Tothill
Distributed by	British Broadcasting Corporation
Running time	235 min
Language	English

Charles II: The Power and the Passion is a British television film in four episodes, broadcast on BBC One in 2003, and produced by the BBC in association with the A&E Network in the United States. It was produced by Kate Harwood, directed by Joe Wright and written by BAFTA Award-winning screenwriter Adrian Hodges, whose credits include David Copperfield and The Lost World.

It covers the life of Charles II - beginning just before his Restoration to the throne in 1660. He was deeply traumatized by the execution of his father in 1649, after the former's defeat in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms; it begins, however, with his penurious exile in Antwerp in 1658. The film's emphasis is on his court, and his conflicts with Parliament - essentially the same issues which led to the Civil War between his father and the House of Commons, the politics of whom would succeed him - and his relationships with his family, his mistresses and his illegitimate son James, Duke of Monmouth.

The film dramatizes both Charles's laziness and frivolous diversion, leaving political issues to his chancellor Sir Edward Hyde, but becoming increasingly irritated by the paternalistic way which Hyde behaves towards him. Dismissing Hyde, he takes the reins of power himself, determined that his brother should succeed him in the event of him not having any legitimate children (despite opposition to James's Catholicism), and that Royal Power not be challenged by Parliament.

The production won the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Serial in 2004; it was also nominated for a minor Emmy (see the Internet Movie Database's entry).

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