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The Great Fire is a four-part television drama first shown on ITV from 16 October to 6 November 2014. It is set during the Great Fire of London in England in 1666. It was written by Tom Bradby and produced by Ecosse Films. Each hour-long (including commercial breaks) episode is set in one day of the fire.

Plot

The series portrays events from the point of view of the Farriner family, in whose bakery on Pudding Lane the fire started, and from the point of view of the royal court in responding to the fire.

The storyline includes events that are not recorded from the real fire. The fire was shown as starting when Farriner's daughter left the oven's stoke-hatch open and the fire ejected a hot ember which ignited loose straw on the wooden floor. It suggests Farriner had a contract to supply baked goods to the Royal Navy and was suffering financial difficulties as a result of the Navy persistently delaying payment. It also follows a sub-plot in which there is a suspected Catholic plot to kill King Charles II, in which the Farriners become suspected of complicity.

Cast

• Andrew Buchan as Thomas Farriner
• Rose Leslie as Sarah, Thomas Farriner's (fictional) sister-in-law
• Jack Huston as King Charles II of England
• Daniel Mays as Samuel Pepys
• Perdita Weeks as Elizabeth Pepys, Samuel's wife
• Oliver Jackson-Cohen as James, Duke of York (the King's brother, the future King James II of England)
• Charles Dance as Lord Denton, the King's (fictional) spymaster
• Nicholas Blane as Thomas Bloodworth, Lord Mayor of London
• Andrew Tiernan as Vincent, a prisoner in Newgate Prison
• Antonia Clarke as Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond
• Uriel Emil as Signor Romero
• Sonya Cassidy as Catherine of Braganza

Filming locations

Cobham Hall was used to film some of the London street scenes and Penshurst Place in Kent doubled as the exterior of the King's palace.

Reception

The Guardian was moderately positive, describing it as, 'decent enough drama, if not quite as great as its title would like it to be, and it is lifted by a fine cast, particularly Charles Dance as the sinister intelligence officer Lord Denton.' The Independent also praised the cast, but said the series lacked suspense. The Telegraph gave it two stars.

References

1. "The Great Fire (2014)". Kent Film Office. 7 October 2014.
2. "The Great Fire; the Knick review – One period drama takes a while to warm up, the other is deliciously gory". TheGuardian.com. 17 October 2014.
3. "The Great Fire, ITV: Historical characters with fictional additions". Independent.co.uk. 17 October 2014. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022.
4. Rahim, Sameer (16 October 2014). "The Great Fire review, ITV: 'historical hokum". The Daily Telegraph. London.

External links

• The Great Fire at IMDb

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