The British are as fond of telling stories set in their Civil War period of the 1600s as Americans are of ours.
“New Worlds” is an intricately woven 4-part series based in the murky years after Commonwealth and the restoration of the Stuart monarchy, and England’s expansion into America in Massachusetts.
Starring Jaime Dornan (“Fifty Shades of Grey”), it combines thick threads of conflicting religions, political repression, rebellion and the importance of family.
It’s also a very grim and bloody history lesson.
Dornan plays Abe Goffe, the son of a Protestant leader, William Goffe (who actually existed). Goffe the elder signed the death warrant of King Charles I of England and fled to Massachusetts when the monarchy was restored. Charles II never stopped hunting his enemies and even decades later, he still hunts Goffe and everyone else who was connected with the death of his father.
Mixed in this are the combustible politics of royal inheritance, rebellion and power of Parliament.
Finally, there is the hard new world of America where the dogmatic Puritan ethic is firmly in place. “We need strong women to marry strong men if we are to tame this wilderness,” says one Puritan elder to a rebellious girl. There was nothing soft about anyone in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Native Americans are routinely deceived and robbed.
God is a very real presence in the lives of the characters and often the justification for horrific acts. In the English persecutions of the 1680s, they cry for freedom but the price of that rebellion is usually a grisly death for entire families. Goffe’s rebels die in ambushes, or are left to die in outdoor cages following torture. The Native Americans are given smallpox-ridden blankets. The rebels against the Stuart monarch are hanged, both men and women.
Unfortunately the series attempts historical accuracy in a time period that was lit by torches, lanterns, candlelight and moonlight. It’s often dark and muddy, and disconcerting as it flicks back and forth from Massachusetts to England.
The overwhelming theme is the desire for freedom and equality and the need to fight for it. When Countess of Abingdon, who subversively helped the elder Goffe for years, is condemned to die by being burned at the stake, her last words are more political than religious. She says presciently as the flames rise, “When a king turns tyrant, he breaks covenant with his people, and they have a right and a duty to bring him down!”
Less than a hundred years later, America rebelled against England over tyranny and won its freedom. In “New Worlds” you see the seeds being sown.
Episodes of “New Worlds” will be available on iTunes, Acorn.tv, Roku on Feb. 16.
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