The Palace

Okay, so a certain amount of belief has to be suspended to enjoy this, but that doesn't mean it's not good TV. There seem to be far too many comparisons to the West Wing. The Palace is basically a tongue-in-cheek dramatisation of a whole bunch of 'what-ifs'. And, if you can get over the initial premise and look a little deeper, there are quite a number of points here about male succession, the spilt between crown and parliament, staff loyalty, the duty of monarchy and so on. This has not just been thrown together - in fact by making all the characters fictional the writers have much greater license to look at and expose some of the more interesting facets of the UK constitution.

The main problem is that it falls between two stools. It's too silly for a Royalist drama, and not quite biting enough for black comedy. It would actually be much better off on Channel 4. ITV doesn't have much of a history of 'faintly subversive' so doesn't know what to do with it, and the critics don't know what to make of it.

I don't know where to begin with how bad this show is, ITV has always struggled to compete in the drama stakes against the established quality of the BBC and the indie hipness of Channel 4, the unloved middle child with only the rare gem in the past decade. The palace however is a new low, From the poor acting and directing to the abysmal dialogue and plotting. ITV has never been well acquainted with reality in its Drama, (aside for when Paul Greengrass feels charitable towards the channel) the Bill is as about as far removed from actually policing in the UK as possible, But the Palace takes this to new depths, as it tries to depict the King actually having real power in what is largely a well paid ceremonial role. They have been many comparisons made to the West Wing, and while it is true they are both political dramas, its like Comparing Paul W.S Anderson to Steven Spielberg there both directors, And as with that comparison they really is nothing to compare one is superbly acted directed and brilliantly written by Aaron Sorkin.

If i was forced to watch this again i would seriously consider chewing through my own wrists to escape into what ever life is after this. If your desperate for British Political Drama buy House of cards on DVD, and if you like good Drama avoid the Palace like the Plague.

A really enjoyable piece of British drama. Something you would expect from the BBC but this is produced by ITV. A great look at the fictional monarchy that this world has created. Mixing in real footage with the fictional story you can quite easy believe the characters are living in Buckingham Palace. Can't fault the acting, writing or the cinematography, all brilliant! Rupert Evans especially performs wonderfully as King Richard with the character development of the young man being slightly reckless with his life and then being thrust into the responsibility of being King. Rupert Evans takes the character in his stride and the audience grows along with him. Thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining and heartfelt. Can't wait for Series 2!

'The Palace' is a series that takes place in a fictionalised royal family not so unlike our own; a young king thrown unexpectedly to the throne and who resembles George VI; his sister is a ringer for Princess Margaret, and there are a batch of partying young royals to boot. An ensemble cast also features many of the palace staff, and the tone of the program is somewhere between 'Drop the Dead Donkey' and 'House of Cards', as it follows the ambitions and intrigue surrounding this substantial collection of characters. It's all believable stuff, yet somehow not very interesting: the comedy element is obvious and just not that funny, while the more serious side of the drama fails to engage, the royal family has already lost so much of its mystique that it's hard to feel anything real is at stake in the political games. Stepehen Frears' film 'The Queen', another obvious template, was such fun because of the way it imaginatively interpreted real events and people; but in 'The Palace', none of the made-up royals have sufficient depth to flesh out the plot beyond a skeleton outline. In the end, it's neither subversive or revealing, and fails to contain anything that might not have been predicted; neither true sitcom not true satire, 'The Palace' aims high but ultimately, appears to have nothing of substance to say.

I caught this, a couple of nights ago, and I thought it was great fun. It is kitsch, fluffy and seemingly unrealistic: just what you need after a hard day. There is the young King, who is basically a nice guy trying to do the right thing (but is a duck out of water really). There is the party hard brother, who is a scream; the pantomine villain older sister, who is determined to usurp little bro; and the gin swilling mother. That's just the family, the staff are even more bonkers, from the maids, to the king's assistant, who is supposedly colluding with a journalist to write a 'tell all book'; but you can tell she is developing one hell of a soft spot for HM. This is just good fluffy fun: you can see where the plot is going, but I didn't care because it was perfect glitzy escapism.