Like millions of you, I’m still rewatching episodes of Game of Thrones. Viewing the final episode in 2019 was like experiencing a bereavement. The spin-offs haven’t quite come to the same standard, let’s be honest. So, I’ve reached back as far as the 1970s to find the precursors to Game of Thrones – historical dramas that foreshadowed the genius of what was yet to come. And back in 1972 – French TV producers gave us the amazing Les Rois Maudits.
Game of Thrones – 1970s style!
In 1972, ORTF – the state-owned TV network in France – broadcast a sumptuous historical drama: Les Roit Maudits (the cursed kings), based on the novels by Maurice Druon. It focussed on one of the most violent periods in French history that encompassed the destruction of the Knights Templar by King Philip IV, known as “the fair” (due to his complexion, not temperament).
The viewer was treated to a clash of passionate personalities that verged on historical soap opera. So no filmed inserts but a continuous tracking of the main characters and their interactions. Like a lot of 1970s historical dramas – where production values were lower – it sometimes feels like a televised theatre play. for an audience today, it can seem a bit ‘stagey’. That said, it more than compensates with brilliant dialogue.
DISCOVER: Horror movies featuring the Knights Templar
The first episode – The Iron King – introduced us to King Philip and his desperate need for money. We see him scheming with his advisers to destroy the Knights Templar and seize their assets. Any foul means will do to bring this order of holy warriors crashing down.
The original TV series came out in 1972-1973 and is set during the reigns of the last five kings of the Capetian dynasty and the first two kings of the House of Valois. Having kicked off with Philip the Fair, it moves on to a succession of monarchs that follows leads France and England to the Hundred Years’ War.
1970s – plenty of forerunners to Game of Thrones
The 1970s was a golden age for historical dramas on TV. In the UK, the BBC broadcast the Roman Empire series I Claudius in 1976, which I think still ranks as the best ever TV dramatisation of a historical fiction novel. After the success of that series, the BBC took on the same territory as Les Rois Maudits with The Devil’s Crown – following the Plantagenet kings of England during the Templar period.
Like Les Rois Maudit, The Devil’s Crown moved at a stately pace, with smart dialogue, and a lot of theatricality. The critic Clive James wrote a very sarcastic review in The Observer in 1978 remarking on its charm – but also cheapness. He thought there was a “desperate look in the eyes of its leading actors, each of whom gives you the impression that he is being handed the script page by page, with no time to rehearse except while the other actors are talking”.
Not surprisingly, The Devil’s Crown does not get repeated these days – unlike I Claudius. As for Les Rois Maudits, it was held in such affection that the series was remade in 2005, but this time the reception was far more mixed. And that’s putting it charitably.
Should you wish to read the novels by Maurice Druon on which the series is based, they are as follows:
- Le Roi de fer (The Iron King)
- La Reine étranglée (The Strangled Queen)
- Les Poisons de la couronne (The Poisoned Crown)
- La Loi des mâles (The Royal Succession)
- La Louve de France (The She-Wolf of France)
- Le Lys et le lion (The Lily and the Lion)
- Quand un Roi perd la France (The King Without a Kingdom)
Here is the start of the series:
If you would like to know more about the Knights Templar, then get your hands on a copy of my book: The Knights Templar – History & Mystery. Published by Pen & Sword and available on Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, and WHSmith. Don’t miss out on your copy!
