This Week's Telly: 21/6/08

Empire - Thursday, Sky One, 10pm
Upstairs Downstairs Love - Monday, Channel 4, 9pm
Snowdon and Margaret: Inside a Royal Marriage - Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

There's little I enjoy more than a cheesy historical mini-series and Sky One – the channel which brought us big Irish-American lug Brian Dennehy playing Genghis Khan in Marco Polo – has succeeded again in bringing over another corny classic in Empire. It's a blatant attempt to cash in on the success of the series Rome, with added bits from the movie Gladiator, and I knew it was going to be a treat when the first five minutes was full of dialogue like this: "Marc Antony!" "Octavius?" "Noble Cicero – just read your latest." "Ah, wise Cassius." "Triumphant Caesar!" "Most excellent Senator Brutus." Fantastic! Not at all an awkward way to introduce characters, because as we all know, in Ye Olden Tymes people spoke differently, especially in ancient Latin, and were constantly reminding each other who they were.

They might as well have renamed them Pat, Jeff and Kevin, though, because Empire is to historical accuracy what Katie Price is to privacy.

To read the full review, click here:
The Scotsman.