Juliet's horrible histories

GOODNESS me, that Emma is a scary piece of work. By which I mean Lady Emma in KING & CONQUEROR, the bloody new historical drama that began last night on bloody BBC1, with episode two tonight (9.30pm).

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Played with aplomb - in fact, with several plombs - by Juliet Stevenson, Emma is the mother of Edward (Eddie Marsan), who's just been crowned King of England, this being the period leading up to the Battle of Hastings.

But rather than being thrilled for him, she sees him as second best. Edward is something of a weirdo, so she'd rather his brother had taken the throne. Sadly, his brother couldn’t do that, mostly because he'd been murdered, rendering him ineligible on medical grounds.

Anyway, barely had the crown been plonked on weird Eddie's head than Emma let rip. “England’s power,” she suddenly announced, “is once more where it should be - in our hands!” With the emphasis on “our”.