King and Conqueror: release date, stars and where you can watch the must see royal history show of the summer

Move over The Gilded Age, the ultimate power struggle between new and old for total supremacy is about to hit TV screens. King & Conqueror is the long awaited BBC show all about the two men who fought over England and ended up changing its history forever. There are just days to go until the programme hits our screens – here’s everything you need to know about King and Conqueror.

What’s it all about, William?

King & Conqueror follows the story of William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex as both men try to capture the throne of Edward the Confessor. While we all know how this epic royal tussle ended (that would be one in the eye for Harold and a crown for his conqueror, William), the deep bonds between the men and their families as well as their simmering rivalry is a story less often told.

The series also brings to life the sometimes overlooked people around them who helped shape England including some of the women discarded from the traditional telling including William’s queen, Matilda, and Harold’s wife, Edith.

Who stars in King & Conqueror?

The rivals for the throne of England are played by big name actors with James Norton taking on the role of Harold. He also executive produced the series. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays William the Conqueror. And if they appear to be fully immersed in their rivaliry, it might be because Norton originally wanted to play William.

Emily Beecham is Edith while Clemence Poesy plays Matilda. And it looks like viewers will be seeing sparks fly between the couples and their rivals.

Kitty Kaletsky, executive producer on the show, said ”The four of them had a huge amount of fun during filming. They formed a real bond, both as individual couples and as a foursome, and that just trickled down. As a result of that dynamic, the whole cast became incredibly close.”

Who’s stealing the show?

As with all period dramas, it’s the supporting cast who get some of the best lines and moments in King & Conqueror. Emma of Normandy, so often overlooked in the telling of the story of the birth of modern England, is brought to life by Juliet Stevenson while Eddie Marsan plays the devout if dithering Edward the Confessor.

In fact, they were so good in rehearsals that writer Michael Robert Johnson confessed ”Eddie and Juliet, even from the readthrough, it was clear what an astonishing double act they were as mother and son. After the readthrough we actually added another scene with them at the end of episode two.”

How medieval do things get?

James Norton revealed in the run up to release that he had actually broken his collarbone during rehearsals for some of the scenes, filmed in Iceland, and so his anguished shouting in the battle scenes was given added impetus.

It’s a gritty shoot, bringing the chaos and carnage of this seismic time in England’s history to life in all its gory detail. William won the throne at the Battle of Hastings but Harold had already fought a heady clash just days earlier and all that’s portrayed, and more, in the show.

James Norton said of the battle scenes that ” I remember being on the battlefield as the embodiment of Harold with the benefit of a thousand years of hindsight and thinking ‘if only he knew how significant this particular moment was going to be.’

Is it all about fighting?

There’s a lot more nuance to this telling that pure and simple fighting. The political, social and personal relationships of this complex cast of characters if brought to life through the series.

James Norton explained ”We didn’t want one hero or one villain, we wanted the audience to be split and we wanted people to sit on the sofa and have someone on Team Harold and someone on Team William.”

And he had one very important viewer to convince. He recently met Emmanuel Macron, President of France and revealed ”I was very quick to reassure him that we had told the French story, the Norman story, with as little bias as possible…..I promise you that we have been fair in depicting both sides of the story.’

When can we see it?

King & Conqueror starts on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on August 24. All episodes drop on iPlayer at 6am that day.