Tsar wars

The anarchic Russian history romp returns for a third and final season

- STEVEN PERKINS, TESS LAMACRAFT

The marriage of Russia’s Catherine the Great (Elle Fanning) and her infantile husband Peter (Nicholas Hoult) looked broken beyond repair at the end of the second season of riotous historical comedy drama The Great.

Catherine found out that Peter had slept with her mother Joanna (Gillian Anderson) – inadvertently causing Joanna’s death when she fell out of a window during the act – and, in a vengeful fury, attempted to kill him, only to unwittingly stab his double, Pugachev, instead.