BBC2’s lavish period drama Versailles, said to be the sexiest TV drama ever made, began with nearly 2 million viewers on Wednesday night – and prompted only a handful of complaints.
The most expensive French TV series ever made, the story of the Sun King Louis XIV has been heavily trailed in the press, with the Daily Mail promising “four racy scenes in just 17 minutes – along with gay sex, cross-dressing and nudity galore”.
“All hail Louis the Phwoarteenth,” said the Guardian’s review of the show, which began with 1.8 million viewers from 9.30pm on Wednesday.
But despite the Daily Express declaring that it contained the “most explicit sex scenes ever shown on TV”, the show had generated only two complaints to media regulator Ofcom by Thursday lunchtime. The BBC said it had no complaints.
Made by French broadcaster Canal+ and bought by the BBC, Versailles is written by two Hollywood-based British writers, David Wolstencroft and Simon Mirren, who met while working on the BBC1 spy series Spooks.
The Guardian said the drama was “fruity, sticky and far more entertaining than when you learned about it at school – this opulent French production is not (quite) all about the sex”.
The Daily Telegraph said it had “got the lot … torture, espionage, wet-look camisoles, slavering wolves, adultery, self-flagellation, incest and an epic gardening project.
“An all-you-can-eat buffet of everything a historical drama will ever need, but it’s lacking one ingredient – alas somewhat important – which is characters worth keeping your eyelids open for.”
The Huffington Post’s reviewer said it was just the thing for viewers missing another period romp, The Tudors, while they wait for the next series of Wolf Hall. “There’s a lot to enjoy here, even if it does occasionally appear like a children’s drama.” Only occasionally, mind.
While it was a solid start for the acquired drama, it was not in the league of BBC2’s biggest rating series such as Wolf Hall, which began with 3.9 million viewers last year.
It was, however, only a whisker behind the 1.9 million who watched the opening episode of Jane Campion’s acclaimed Elisabeth Moss drama Top of the Lake in 2013.
The opening episode narrowly had the better of BBC1 documentary The Big C and Me, which had 1.7 million viewers, and the latest outing for Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody, which also attracted 1.7 million viewers, both from 9pm.
