In season one of The Great, being a friend to Peter the Third often seemed like an exhausting and self-deprecating commitment.
The emperor frequently ridiculed those closest to him. He punched his wife in the stomach, had an open affair with his best friend’s spouse, shot a pet bear for giggles and threw daggers at the palace guards in impromptu games of William Tell.
But in season two, which premiered regionally on OSN on November 20, it is now Catherine the Great’s court, and as the empress launches a concerted effort to revitalise and modernise Russia, those in her husband Peter’s company will have to think twice about what it means to side with the usurped emperor.
“We’re definitely not in a good place,” says Bayo Gbadamosi, who plays Arkady in The Great, one of those in Peter's inner circle.
“It is a wonder that we’re still breathing to tell tale,” Gwilym Lee, who portrays Peter’s oldest friend, Grigor, says.
Season one of The Great was lauded for its vicious humour and its reinvention of the period drama. Branded as “an occasionally true story”, the Emmy-nominated show takes a number of liberties with its depiction of 18th-century Russia as it follows Catherine’s transformation from a doe-eyed idyllic Prussian princess into Russia’s longest reigning empress.
Created by Tony McNamara, who also penned the original play, the show features a stellar cast that includes Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Sacha Dawan and Adam Godley, to name a few. Gillian Anderson also joins the cast this season for a two-episode stretch as Catherine's mother, Joanna.
Catherine is trying to create a new culture of peace and trying to move away from Peter’s violence, and we benefit from that
Gwilym Lee,
actor
Both actors say they didn’t know what Catherine had in store for their characters during the shoot for the new season, and often wondered whether their end was imminent.
“We don’t get all the episodes at the start. We get them as we go along,” Gbadamosi says.
“Me and Bayo would often come to work and be like, surely she’s going to kill us at some point at night. How much longer are we going to be in this job?” Lee says. The actor, known for his role as Brian May in the 2018 Bohemian Rhapsody, says the characters thankfully benefitted from Catherine’s benevolent attitude.
“She’s trying to create a new culture of peace and trying to move away from Peter’s violence, and we benefit from that," Lee says.
So why do Grigor and Arkady align themselves to Peter, despite his dictatorial propensity and thuggish humour? Part of it, the actors says, is “in order to live” and sustain an aristocratic lifestyle, but also an intimate understanding of what makes Peter, Peter – something we as an audience are privy to this season.
“He is pretty repulsive, isn’t he?” Lee says. “But then there is the context about his behaviour when you see how he was brought up and the complete lack of love he was shown as a child, the neglect. Children reflect what you present to them and he’s never shown anything besides disdain, really. So it’s kind of learned behaviour. I don’t know, maybe I’m being an apologist because I am his best buddy.”
“Yeah, I do think that he has some redeeming qualities,” Gbadamosi says. "At the same time, the brutal side to his personality far outweigh those qualities. But there is context to his behaviour, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it certainly is led on by his upbringing and his own experiences and that is exciting and interesting to see this season.”
Lee says the cast returned to shoot season two of The Great late last year, soon after the show debuted on Hulu to critical acclaim.
“We were seeing a lot of the critical success happen in real time,” he says. “We were coming into work and we’d go on Twitter and see the nominations for the Sag awards or the Golden Globes, it was a real buzz to experience that together. But then with that comes the pressure.”
While a lot of season one was about the plotting and planning of Catherine’s coup against her husband, season two will explore what her ascension to the throne means for her and Russia.
“Taking over the throne is just the beginning of her journey,” Gbadamosi says. “There’s a clear divide now within the court in terms of team Catherine and team Peter and seeing how it all manifests is something audiences can look forward to this season.”
“It’s a whole question of power and what to do with it,” Lee says. “Peter just had power handed to him by the nature of his birth. He just kind of continued the status quo and what happened in Russia generations before. But now an outsider is coming in and seizing power and then reimagining what power would mean in a country like that, and it kind of throws everything into complete disarray.
"There are questions there that are relevant to us, in terms of what qualities a leader should have and what qualities they should be trying to send out into the world.”
The UN General Assembly President in quotes:
YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”
PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”
OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”
REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
Infobox
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
Results
UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets
Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets
Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets
Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs
Monday fixtures
UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Previous men's records
- 2:01:39: Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) on 16/9/19 in Berlin
- 2:02:57: Dennis Kimetto (KEN) on 28/09/2014 in Berlin
- 2:03:23: Wilson Kipsang (KEN) on 29/09/2013 in Berlin
- 2:03:38: Patrick Makau (KEN) on 25/09/2011 in Berlin
- 2:03:59: Haile Gebreselassie (ETH) on 28/09/2008 in Berlin
- 2:04:26: Haile Gebreselassie (ETH) on 30/09/2007 in Berlin
- 2:04:55: Paul Tergat (KEN) on 28/09/2003 in Berlin
- 2:05:38: Khalid Khannouchi (USA) 14/04/2002 in London
- 2:05:42: Khalid Khannouchi (USA) 24/10/1999 in Chicago
- 2:06:05: Ronaldo da Costa (BRA) 20/09/1998 in Berlin
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
The biog
Most memorable achievement: Leading my first city-wide charity campaign in Toronto holds a special place in my heart. It was for Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women program and showed me the power of how communities can come together in the smallest ways to have such wide impact.
Favourite film: Childhood favourite would be Disney’s Jungle Book and classic favourite Gone With The Wind.
Favourite book: To Kill A Mockingbird for a timeless story on justice and courage and Harry Potters for my love of all things magical.
Favourite quote: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill
Favourite food: Dim sum
Favourite place to travel to: Anywhere with natural beauty, wildlife and awe-inspiring sunsets.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
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