Gunpowder fact vs fiction: how accurate is the BBC series?

The first instalment of BBC One’s Gunpowder, a three-part retelling of the infamous 1605 Catholic plot to blow up the House of Lords, and, in the process, King James I, was suitably thrilling. As a bonus, it even featured an angry Jon Snow (sorry, Kit Harington) as chief schemer Robert Catesby.  (His co-conspirator Guy Fawkes is the name most remembered today, but it was Catesby who was the real brains of the operation.) But just how much of that gruesome first episode really happened? Here’s a quick round up of some of the key questions you might have after watching.

Was Robert Catesby really that dashing/dangerous/angry? And did he really look like Kit Harington?

The answer to the first question, according to contemporary accounts, seems to have been an emphatic yes: Catesby was a passionate rebel and devout Catholic, who believed (evidently) that violence in the name of the right cause was justified. He also, as indicated by his portrayal in the series, seems to have been a man with a gift for inspiring others.

And to the second question? Quite possibly: Harington himself, fascinatingly, is a direct descendant of the gunpowder plotter on his mother’s side (her maiden name was Catesby, and Harington’s full name is Christopher Catesby Harington). "I always knew the connection would be quite a good one to promote [the show] with," the actor told BBC Newsbeat.

That said, contemporary images of Robert show him with a trifle more facial hair than Harington sports in the BBC series: in the early 17^th century, beards, a bit like swords, were long and pointy. It’s a minor quibble, though.

Who are the two Catholic women in the first episode, played by Liv Tyler and Sian Webber? And who is the priest?

Liv Tyler is playing Anne Vaux, a real-life woman of the time and committed Catholic who was related to one of the plotters, and who is believed by historians to have had knowledge of the gunpowder plan, without being directly involved in it. The plotter she was related to, however, wasn’t Catesby, as shown in the series, but a different man (Francis Tresham). Peter Mullan’s Henry Garnet, the influential Catholic priest concealed in the wall in the episode, was also a real historical figure – and, like Catesby, was one of the gunpowder plotters.

The unfortunate older woman played by Sian Webber, however – Lady Dorothy Dibdale – seems to have been invented for the purposes of the show. That said, as the next question makes clear, her fate was probably partly inspired by a real case.

Did gory “crushing-to-death” executions really happen?

Sadly, the answer to this is yes. In York in 1586, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (so less than 20 years before the events of the show) an English Catholic woman named Margaret Clitherow was crushed to death, for the crime of harbouring and aiding Catholic priests.

Like the character portrayed by Webber, she also refused to submit to a trial or to save herself by confessing – thereby preventing her children from being implicated in her crimes, or being tortured to try and ascertain her guilt. According to the History of York website, however, some of her relatives, including her stepfather, felt that her insistence on silence was “suicidal” in nature. The appalling harshness of the sentence itself, too, may have been intended as a deterrent, or as an incentive to confess.

Clitherow herself seems to have been prepared to die a martyr. "The sheriffs have said that I am going to die this coming Friday; and I feel the weakness of my flesh which is troubled at this news, but my spirit rejoices greatly. For the love of God, pray for me and ask all good people to do likewise,” she reportedly wrote to a friend ahead of her death.

During her execution, she was stripped naked, and, according to accounts from the time, made to lie on a sharp rock as a heavy door was placed on top of her body. Weights were then placed on top of this, until the pressure broke Clitherow’s back, leading to her death. She was in her early 30s at the time and, horrifyingly, may have been pregnant.

The decision to include a crushing scene like this in Gunpowder, along with the scene in which the young aspiring Catholic priest is hanged, drawn and quartered, was a deliberate one. Harington, who helped create the series, felt that it was necessary to show the very real oppression inflicted upon Catholics at the time.

"It was important for the story because right from the start we need to know why Robert Catesby embarks upon this very, very violent act,” he explained.

"At the time, Catholics were being persecuted and there is nothing in this which is not historically accurate. So we needed to see something quite violent from the start which makes us understand why this man might do what he does."

That said, it’s worth noting that the Clitherow case was an especially brutal one, even by the unforgiving standards of the time – and Clitherow herself was later canonized by the Catholic Church.

Furthermore, as previously mentioned, the execution took place while Elizabeth I was on the throne, rather than James I. One key motivation for the gunpowder plot, however, was that Catholics such as Catesby had initially hoped that the new monarch (who came to power in England in 1603) would be more sympathetic to their cause than his predecessor – and were disappointed when the new strictures he put in place the following year suggested that this was not the case.

Who's who in Gunpowder? Cast and Characters

Did Catholics really hide priests in secret compartments?

This was pretty common practice among Catholic families in Tudor times, following Henry VIII’s reformation and the measures taken against Catholics by his daughter Elizabeth I – and lots of older houses in England had so-called priest holes installed for this very purpose. Many of these (as evidenced by a list on the National Trust website) can still be seen today.

Who is the young nobleman implied to be in love with James I?

The character, played by the actor Hugh Alexander, is the courtier Sir Philip Herbert, a close companion of the King’s, who would have been present in court at the time the show is set, and who had many favours bestowed upon him by the monarch. James I is believed by many historians to have been gay or bisexual (or at least to have had a sexual/romantic interest in men, whether or not this involved physical sex), and is known to have had several male “favourites” throughout his life. The most famous of these, however, were Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, both of whom were not involved with the King in 1603-05. 

Did the King really use a special royal toilet while in the same room as his associates?

Guarding the royal toilet, and, more generally, acting as a companion to the King while in his bedchamber and other private areas, was a duty afforded to a lucky chosen few (including Sir Philip Herbert), who were honoured with the title “Gentlemen of the Bedchamber”.