This White Queen is such a travesty, Your Majesty! Why howlers like concrete steps, metal railings and rubber boots are turning TV's new period drama into a laughing stock
- Viewers of BBC's lavish £10million series pointed out a series of blunders
- Errors include costumes with zips that were not invented until 19th Century
- BBC said it is not ‘slavishly accurate historical account of medieval England’
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Viewers have pointed out a series of errors in The White Queen starring Rebecca Ferguson
It's the BBC’s new period drama – depicting the epic struggle between two dynasties fighting for the English Crown.
But producers of The White Queen have their own epic struggle on their hands – with historical accuracy.
Viewers of the lavish £10 million sex-and-swordfighting series have pointed out a series of embarrassing blunders that are making it a laughing stock.
The story is set in 1464, during the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York.
But the production is filled with anachronisms that have strained its credibility.
Howlers include costumes with zips – which weren’t invented until the late 19th Century – Georgian windows and modern guttering.
In their drive for authenticity, producers shot pivotal scenes from English history not here but in Belgium, supposedly because of the satellite dishes and CCTV cameras that blight Britain’s surviving medieval buildings.
However, they seemed to have missed double-glazing and concrete steps spotted in the background.
Academics say the TV adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s bestselling novels should not be confused with proper history.
University of Kent history lecturer Dr David Grummitt said it was ‘swashbuckling drama more akin to Game Of Thrones than the Wars of the Roses’.
And professor of history Michael Hicks, from the University of Winchester, said: ‘Kings didn’t just wander around on their own sleeping with people.’
A BBC spokeswoman said the series aimed to ‘reimagine history’ and was not a ‘slavishly accurate historical account of medieval England’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2346670/This-White-Queen-travesty-Your-Majesty-Why-howlers-like-concrete-steps-metal-railings-rubber-boots-turning-TVs-new-period-drama-laughing-stock.html#ixzz2X2Lm9nhN
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