![]() ![]() Yes it's brutally violent with loads of sex and swearing, and full of characters with few, if any, redeeming features. Besides, what good is a plasma screen if you're not going to see plasma on it? I wasn't expecting what came next: Spartacus: Blood & Sand is a terrific show – compelling, smart, intentionally funny. So, I thought, as this is clearly the goriest thing ever on TV (and only 13 episodes long), I'll watch it: it'll be a low-rent landmark in telly history. ![]() If a contemporary cop show painted the screen red with such wild abandon as Spartacus, it'd be dragged kicking and screaming off the air. I've always liked the inventive ways TV shows have gone about showing explicit bloodshed, be it in microscopic detail in CSI or the bottled grue of True Blood. Even in context it's often ludicrously OTT. ![]() Out of context the copious bloodshed looked ridiculous. What first got me interested in Spartacus was the gore, lovingly displayed and mocked on Charlie Brooker's show ( here's his review for the Guardian). Even the company responsible, Starz, sounds like a strip club, further underselling this show – although keen TV followers will know Starz is also responsible for Party Down, one of the finest comedies of recent years. A 300-style take on the Spartacus story wasn't really going to head straight to the top of many viewers' "must see" list. Sometimes low expectations can be a wonderful thing. ![]()
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