Cultural Dessert

I’ve been catching up with the wonderful HBO drama series ‘John Adams’. Having heard much praise for this tale of the early years of American independence I had high expectations and was a little disappointed at first to find it a fairly conventional historical drama. As the series progressed, however, I began to appreciate how well done it was. The acting was intelligent and subtle – particularly the central relationship between Paul Giamatti’s Adams and his wife Abigail, played by Laura Linney. The gradual character development over a period of more than 20 years was engaging and believable. There were key roles for a number of British actors including Tom Hollander (a brilliant cameo as King George III), Rufus Sewell, Stephen Dillane and a show-stealing turn by Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin. With hindsight it was very clever to show us some of the key events of the period through the eyes of the ever-present, but often peripheral, Adams rather than focussing more obviously on George Washington. It has certainly improved my knowledge of the history of the period – and the scenes in the pre-revolution French court were a hoot.