James I was very keen on question ordinary and extraordinary and personally authorised it for Fawkes
F was also incarcerated in Little Ease - which flooded and you couldnt stand up straight in
John Gerard ( jesuit ) also described being tortured by Topcliffe - hoary in evil and a beard that smelt of puke
and Little John ( Nicholas Owen) the great priest hole maker ( examples still there at baddesley clinton) died helping the police with their inquiries ( hernia popped )
There was a good reworking twenty y ago
the agent says to the minister
" your Lordship - we caught the conspirators but didnt realise that some were armed so we returned fire and killed some of them"
Minister" I am not asking you why you killed some of them. I am asking you why you didnt kill all of them."
I like the torture bit. Wasn't it banned in England at some time in the 16th century? And wasn't there a bit of extraordinary rendition to send someone or other (possibly a noble) to a jurisdiction which allowed it (Scotland?).
Can't remember the guy being sent north to be water-boarded with prejudice. Or why. Guess they got the correct answer, though.
Not sure about the Gunpowder plotters but the traitors' death had by that time become something of a dead letter. When the horrific scenes at the execution of the Babington plotters in 1586 were reported to Queen Elizabeth I she ordered that in future such people should be hanged 'until death shall intervene' before any mutilation was carried out.
I didn't think the torture scenes would be as graphic as they were, I turned my head away. How barbaric the punishments were, "pressing" I'd never realised existed as torture. Looking more in to pressing as a means of torture, I found St. Margaret Clitheroe was pressed whilst with child.
I thought it was excellent. Great acting and historically interesting. I noticed Kit has co written and produced the show. Clever lad and handsome. The b@#t@£*. ;x)
I liked it and didn't find the torture scenes too difficult to watch. Scenes like that are easier to detach from than violent fist fights accompanied by sound affects.