TV Review: The Devil's Whore

From LSHG Newsletter, Spring 2009

The expression “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing” seems to apply to watching historical dramas with
historical knowledge. The numerous historical inaccuracies of the recent series of the Tudors is an example; too small, too young just being two of them.
It was with some trepidation therefore that I began watching the eagerly awaited “Devil’s Whore”
(Wednesdays, Channel 4). The publicity before hand did not auger well with a fictitious character being so central and a part for a Devil with a long tongue!
It is though extremely rare for any drama about the English Revolution (there I have nailed my colours to the mast in calling it a revolution) with significant parts for John Lilburne and Thomas Rainsborough. There were
though a number of important absentees: Fairfax and Ireton from the Grandees, Wildman, Walwyn and Overton from the Levellers and finally, in the month of the 400th anniversary of Milton’s birth, it might have been appropriate to find a space for him.
The plot of the first two episodes has weaved itself through a number of the significant events of the 1630s and 40s starting with the public whipping of Lilburne in 1638 and concluding the second episode with the death of Rainsborough in 1648. There is less concentration on the battles with only Edgehill and Newbury shown and Marston Moor mentioned. There is far more emphasis on the political which is to be welcomed.
There was though a missed opportunity with the Putney Debates. In the second episode it was not clear what the purpose of the meeting was when Rainsborough uttered his immortal line about “I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest he.” It then truncated the rest of that speech. Surely there would have been drama in the exchange between Rainsborough and Ireton.
The third episode dealt with the execution of Charles and had a totally improbable simultaneous scene with Sexby giving the fictitious Angelica Fanshawe the kiss of life having brought her down from the gallows.
The third and fourth episodes seemed to concentrate on the fictitious element more than historical events but
there was a brief tour through other radical groups such as the Diggers and the Ranters. There was though a welldone trial scene of Lilburne which included some of the actual dialogue. The revolt of some of the troops at Burford and the subsequent execution of some of the alleged ringleaders was also dealt with.
Peter Flannery (who also wrote “Our Friends in the North”) has a knack for creating drama around historical or political events but I am a bit wary of mixing historical and fictitious characters to the extent that he does with having Rainsborough and then Sexby marrying the fictitious Angelica Fanshawe.
There are some historical inaccuracies/omissions in the first two episodes but not enough to become annoying and these are made up for by other significant events being given unusual prominence, e.g. Lilburne’s imprisonment by both the King and Parliament and the important role of his wife Elizabeth. The role of women in the Leveller campaign has often been overlooked. In addition Flannery suggests that Cromwell had a hand in Rainsborough’s death. There is no historical evidence for that, but it is an interesting theory.
Certainly after Putney Cromwell and the Grandees had reason to fear Rainsborough and the Levellers. In the
subsequent episodes there were more inaccuracies with Lilburne dying in Jersey. He had been imprisoned at one time there but in fact died in England. It also had Sexby killing himself after a failed attempt at assassinating Cromwell; in fact he died in the Tower.
I do though appreciate the comments that Martine Brant made in the Observer about the need to take liberties in historical dramas to bring them alive. The most important lesson established though is the highlighting of the scandalous disregard of this most important period in our constitutional history. The embarrassment of admitting that we had a Revolution and the fact that Lilburne, Rainsborough and others are not household names is a national scandal. Time for statues to Lilburne and Rainsborough I think!
Richard Ascough