---
title: "Charles II: The Power and The Passion"
year: 2003
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/charles-ii-the-power-and-the-passion"
fi1m_id: "charles-ii-the-power-and-the-passion"
imdb_id: "tt0364800"
tmdb_id: 19311
wikidata_id: "Q4373808"
fi1m_score: 77
critics_reviews: 1
published: "2026-10-07T13:49:06.585277+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-07T13:49:21.442937+00:00"
region: "SI"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Charles II: The Power and The Passion (2003)

Created by Joe Wright · 1h 00m · Drama

## Identity

Charles II: The Power and The Passion

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/charles-ii-the-power-and-the-passion
- **Type:** Series
- **Fi1m ID:** charles-ii-the-power-and-the-passion
- **IMDb ID:** tt0364800
- **TMDB ID:** 19311
- **Wikidata ID:** Q4373808
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364800/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/19311, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4373808

**Fi1m score: 77** · Critics: 1 of 6 reviews so far

*In a sentence:* Twenty-five years of English history, mostly decided in bedrooms, and only the king seems to know it

> Joe Wright’s four-part drama tries to get a quarter-century of the Restoration into four hours, and the history arrives in lumps. Rufus Sewell’s Charles holds it together: watchful, charming, tired, and never the fool his court takes him for.

## Synopsis

England, 1660. Charles Stuart (Rufus Sewell) is thirty, penniless and in exile, eleven years after Parliament cut off his father’s head. With him are his brother James, Duke of York (Charlie Creed-Miles), his old friend George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (Rupert Graves) and his adviser Sir Edward Hyde (Ian McDiarmid). Then Parliament invites him home. Charles wants his throne, the men who signed his father’s death warrant dead, and enough money to keep a court; what stands in his way is a Commons that holds the purse and remembers what it did to the last king. He takes Barbara Villiers (Helen McCrory) as his mistress, and Hyde arranges a marriage to the Portuguese princess Catharine of Braganza (Shirley Henderson), who arrives with a dowry and almost no English.

## Review

Adrian Hodges’s script and Joe Wright’s direction have four hours to get Charles II from a cold lodging in exile to the end of a twenty-five-year reign, and they do not pretend it fits. Events come at a run: a restoration, a marriage, a war with the Dutch, a plague, a fire, a plot, a succession crisis. We think it is good, often better than good, and we think most of what is wrong with it comes from that arithmetic. A reader with four evenings and a taste for men in wigs lying to each other will be well served.

The reason to watch is Rufus Sewell. His Charles has learned in exile that everyone around him wants something, and he decides early to let them think he is a lazy man who cares only for his mistresses. Sewell plays this with his face held almost still, so the small movements register: a glance at Hyde when Parliament refuses money, a tightening when his brother talks about his faith. He is charming on purpose, and when the charm drops, which happens perhaps four times in four hours, it is frightening.

Wright and his cinematographer Ryszard Lenczewski shoot it with a handheld camera that follows people down corridors and into beds, and nearly everything indoors is lit by candles and windows, so the faces are warm and the corners are black. Sarah Greenwood’s Whitehall is not a palace of state rooms. It is a warren of panelled chambers, back stairs and curtained beds, which is right for a court where the real business is done in private. Mike O’Neill dresses the king in black and lets Buckingham and the mistresses carry the colour. Rob Lane’s score is lutes and low strings and, in the council scenes, mostly absent. Paul Tothill cuts quickly between the bedroom and the council chamber, and the series’ best joke is how often the same people are in both.

The first episode puts the executions of the regicides in front of us, with the crowd roaring and the king watching, and we were horrified; then we watched Sewell, who gives the crowd nothing. That is the series in one scene. The spectacle is loud and the man at the centre is quiet.

Helen McCrory’s Barbara Villiers is the best thing in the court. She is greedy, clever, frightened of being replaced and never once pathetic, and her scenes with Sewell have the heat of two people who know exactly what they are to each other. Shirley Henderson’s Catharine of Braganza moved us more than we expected: a small foreign woman in an enormous dress, laughed at in a language she cannot follow, who turns out to have more steel than any of the men laughing. Rupert Graves gives Buckingham a dangerous lightness, and Ian McDiarmid’s Hyde is the one adviser who tells the truth and is punished for it. Martin Freeman’s Shaftesbury arrives later as the opposition, dry and quick, and the last two episodes tilt towards him.

The compression costs the series its middle. Charlie Creed-Miles’s James gets one note, sulky piety, and holds it for four hours. Christian Coulson’s Monmouth is handsome and barely written. Peter Wight, Robert East and Dorian Lough play ministers whose names you will catch from the dialogue if you are lucky, and the Plague and the Fire of London go by in a handful of scenes between bedrooms. By the fourth episode the politics has become men shouting in rooms about a Catholic succession, and we wanted the series to stop and explain, which it does not have time to do.

Wright went on to make [*Pride & Prejudice*](https://film.one/film/pride-and-prejudice-2005) two years later, and the restless camera and the dark, candlelit rooms are already here. Against the stately tradition of British royal television this is quick, carnal and modern, and it is a 15 certificate for a reason; there is a great deal of sex, most of it political. Watch two episodes at a sitting and keep a list of names by the sofa.

*Fi1m score 77, published 7 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Charles II: The Power and The Passion worth watching?**

*Charles II: The Power and The Passion* is worth watching for anyone with four evenings and a taste for Restoration politics done in bedrooms, and we scored it 77. Rufus Sewell's quiet, watchful king is the reason to see it. The compression of twenty-five years into four hours means the Plague, the Fire and several ministers go by in a blur, so keep a list of names handy.

**How long is Charles II: The Power and The Passion, and what is it rated?**

*Charles II: The Power and The Passion* has episodes of about 1h 00m. It is a drama series.

**Where can I watch Charles II: The Power and The Passion in Slovenia?**

*Charles II: The Power and The Passion* is not on any streaming or rental service in Slovenia at the moment. It is available in 4 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Charles II: The Power and The Passion, and is it suitable for children?**

*Charles II: The Power and The Passion* is a UK 15 and is not suitable for children. It opens with the public executions of the regicides, which we found horrifying, and it contains a great deal of sex, most of it political and shown frankly. Older teenagers used to adult period drama will cope; the squeamish should be ready for the first episode.

**How does Charles II: The Power and The Passion compare to The Favourite?**

*Charles II: The Power and The Passion* is the straighter and more generous of the two, a four-hour drama that takes its king seriously, where [*The Favourite*](https://film.one/film/the-favourite) is a sharper, crueller two-hour comedy about a later Stuart court. Lanthimos's film is the tighter piece of work and the funnier one; Wright's series gives you more history, more people and more time with them, at the cost of a baggy middle. Pick the film for wit, the series for Sewell.

**What should I watch after Charles II: The Power and The Passion?**

After *Charles II: The Power and The Passion*, try [*The Favourite*](https://film.one/film/the-favourite) (2018, Fi1m 87): A later Stuart court where the mistresses do the governing and nobody is kind. Then [*The Madness of King George*](https://film.one/film/the-madness-of-king-george) (1994, Fi1m 83): A king, a Parliament and a succession scare, played for comedy until it isn’t.

### Reviews we read (1)

- **Empire**, Ian Nathan (85/100, inferred): Nathan finds the series riveting and intimate, despite its history unfolding in abrupt bursts. He especially praises Rufus Sewell’s vivid portrayal of the astute, troubled king. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/charles-ii-review/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Joe Wright
- **Creator:** Joe Wright
- **Director:** Joe Wright
- **Writer:** Adrian Hodges
- **Cinematography:** Ryszard Lenczewski
- **Editor:** Paul Tothill
- **Music:** Rob Lane
- **Production design:** Sarah Greenwood
- **Costume design:** Mike O'Neill
- **Producer:** Emilio Nunez, Katrine Dudley, Kate Harwood
- **Cast:** Rufus Sewell as Charles II; Rupert Graves as George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham; Charlie Creed-Miles as James, Duke of York; Christian Coulson as James, Duke of Monmouth; Shirley Henderson as Catharine of Braganza; Martin Freeman as Lord Shaftesbury; Helen McCrory as Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine; Peter Wight as Ormonde
- **Runtime:** 1h 00m
- **Release (Slovenia):** 16 November 2003
- **Genres:** Drama

## Where to watch in Slovenia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Slovenia at the last check.

Also available in: AU, CA, GB, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Wolf Hall* (2015): Another court run from the corridors, slower and quieter, with a lead who listens.
- *The Favourite* (2018), Fi1m 87: A later Stuart court where the mistresses do the governing and nobody is kind. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-favourite.md)
- *The Madness of King George* (1994), Fi1m 83: A king, a Parliament and a succession scare, played for comedy until it isn’t. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-madness-of-king-george.md)
- *Elizabeth R* (1971): Six episodes of a monarch outthinking her advisers; stately where Wright is restless.
- *La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV* (1966): Rossellini’s account of Charles’s cousin learning that power is a performance.

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/charles-ii-the-power-and-the-passion