If you’re drunk on the blustering, swearing version of the story seen in House of Guinness Or Peaky Blindersthen you probably have a taste for Steven Knight’s work.
Netflix series House of Guinness is inspired by the true story of the famous Irish beer and serves up a frothy pint of Knight’s delicious recipe: cunning and violent men and women doing dirty business from street level to stately homes, with subtexts of class and politics set to a brash, modern soundtrack.
As a writer and producer, Knight pioneered the style in Peaky Blinders and refined it in recent series like SAS: Rogue Hero And A thousand blows.
However, before airing these hit shows, Knight collaborated with A-list star Tom Hardy to create a darker, weirder and more atmospheric series. It’s filthy, it’s gothic, it’s Taboo.
Located in 1814, Taboo stars Hardy as James Keziah Delaney, a dark-faced adventurer who returns from the dead to shock London society.
He arrives from Africa with a pile of secrets, a haunted look and a mysterious claim to a piece of land that lies between the British and American empires, throwing him into a battle of wits and gunpowder with the evil East India Company.
Amidst the fog and firelight, the story twists and turns, the fuse slowly burning to explosive action scenes. It’s grim and ridiculous, and wildly entertaining.
Or Peaky Blinders is a journey through the early 20th industrial century, House of Guinness takes us to the decadent Edwardian era, and A thousand blows takes place in the Victorian era, Taboo dates back to the Regency period.
This is the period when King George III’s madness prevented him from ascending the throne, and madness is a major theme in this series. Or Peaky Blinders sees Cillian Murphy playing an icy schemer, Taboo presents Hardy as a hulking brute whose simmering intensity always borders on volcanic force.
Alongside Knight, Hardy also co-created the series with his father, Chips Hardy, which adds a weird personal touch to the wild energy he brings to the role.
Alternately growling or muttering poetic curses, he is plagued by visions and driven by some kind of unknowable, unpredictable, unholy goal. This fearsome creature is violent and frightening, but it is also a seductive agent of chaos, raining down righteous fury on the even more loathsome politicians, nobles, and businessmen who stand in its way.
The supporting cast is also excellent: Jessie Buckley and Oona Chaplin hold their own against Hardy, Jonathan Pryce and Mark Gatiss have fun as hiss-worthy villains, and Tom Hollander is laugh-out-loud funny as a dissolute chemist.
The characters come from all walks of life, making it an immersive visit to the past reminiscent of Martin Scorsese. New York gangs – surely an influence on Knight’s colorful historical series.
For prestidigitation TabooIn the living, dirty world of , special mention must also go to costume designer Joanna Eatwell, cinematographer Mark Patten and soundtrack composer Max Richter, all BAFTA nominees for their work.
Jan Archivald, Erika Ökvist and Audrey Doyle won BAFTAs for hair and makeup. And the visual effects team was nominated for several awards for their work bringing old-fashioned London to life.
You can find this 2017 series readily available to stream on BBC iPlayer and Netflix, although it seems unlikely that the promised second season will ever come to fruition. Darker and stranger than Peaky Blinders, Taboo is a searing slice of historical action anchored by Tom Hardy at his most horribly magnetic.
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