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Gunpowder 5/11: The Greatest Terror Plot
BBC Two Wed 22nd Oct 9pm - 9:59pm
Repeat: BBC Two (only England, Wales) Tomorrow 11:20pm
Repeat: BBC Two (only Northern Ireland, Scotland) Tomorrow 11:50pm

Review by: David Butcher

Historical docudrama is a tough genre to pull off, but this does a smart job of re-creating the 1605 Gunpowder Plot from the inside. It's a story we think we know, but the programme explores how Guy Fawkes's attempt to blow up Parliament was meant to light the fuse on a much wider rebellion, among a network of Catholic gentry in the Midlands. “It would have been a completely blank slate on which to create a whole new state,” says one contributor.

Using the interrogation of key plotter Thomas Winter as a framing device, the story spools back to the point where the conspiracy came together – and charts its downfall.

For the very first time the inner secrets of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 are revealed in this landmark docudrama. It uses the actual words of the senior captured leader Thomas Wintour and Guy Fawkes as they responded to the state interrogators who were investigating the conspiracy by a Catholic-led group of militants to blow up Parliament and King James I, which had taken 18 months to plan. Also included is an insight into the recruitment of Fawkes and Wintour's brother right up to the dramatic siege that resulted in their capture on November 8. This epic tale reveals the plotters' faith, betrayal and persecution - and reveals the truth behind a scheme whose ruination is celebrated every year.
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