The Borgias (1981 TV series)

Did You Know?

• Screenonline calls it 'one of the most panned series of its day, a fixture of 'all-time worst TV' lists ever since'.
• The editor of The Penguin TV Companion (2006) nominated it as one of the 20 worst programmes ever made, claiming it had even been condemned by the Vatican.
• The Borgias was released on DVD in the UK by 2 Entertain in 2016.

Production

The BBC's 1981 series The Borgias was, according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph just before its release, the most expensive drama the network had ever produced, with a declared budget of £2.3 million. Financing came from RAI, the Seven Network, and Time Life Television. Principal photography took place over twelve weeks starting in April 1980 across Rome, Tuscany, Spoleto, Viterbo, and Urbino, but this location work made up only about thirty percent of the final footage; the rest was shot on studio video. Director Brian Farnham made the project public. Originally scheduled for March 1981, the premiere was postponed due to a union dispute, eventually airing on BBC Two on Wednesday, 14 October 1981.

Reception

Intended as a gripping historical melodrama in the vein of I, Claudius, the series was not a critical success. The BBC screened it at the same time as ITV's lavish Brideshead Revisited, and critics contrasted the high production values and stellar cast of Brideshead with The Borgias' seeming focus on frequent graphic violence and nudity. Elkan Allan wrote a preview for The Times of both titles. Because both networks were concerned about a possible scheduling clash, BBC2 Controller Brian Wenham took the unusual step of letting ITV know informally that The Borgias would be screened on Wednesday nights. The Sicilian-born actor Adolfo Celi was well known to have a heavy Sicilian accent; in Thunderball he had been dubbed by Robert Rietti, but in The Borgias he did his own voice acting, and several critics commented adversely on his thickly-accented English. While the series was still screening, incoming Director-General of the BBC Alasdair Milne acknowledged criticisms: 'I am immensely proud of our TV drama through the years - we may have stumbled over The Borgias, but we don't stumble very often'. As the series drew to a close, The Times reported that 'The Borgias is a critical laughing stock' but added that it had been a 'triumph' for ratings, noting that its weekly viewing figures of 8 million were particularly high for BBC2. Its explanation was that the series went out on an evening when both BBC1 and ITV were primarily concerned with sport, leaving a spare and sizeable audience. The series finally screened in America in 1985 via the Arts & Entertainment Network, with Edwin Newman introducing and contributions from period experts; the nudity that appeared on British and Australian TV was trimmed for American viewers. John J. O'Connor, reviewing for The New York Times, praised Tim Harvey's design but found Celi's performance sluggish, the action confusing and the dialogue poor.