History Series / Gunpowder

* CoolGuns: The flintlock pistols and muskets used by the plotters in their last stand against the King's men.

** Catesby and Wintour are fined for not attending church.

* EthnicMenialLabor: Lord Mounteagle's servant is a black African, presumably purchased from Portuguese or Arab slave traders as the English had not yet established plantations in the New World. Also, Cecil has a black scribe to whom he dictates a letter in the first episode.

%% * MyNameIs: The first episode ends with Guy Fawkes dramatically identifying himself by name.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Cecil is openly bigoted against Catholics, and believes every Jesuit is either a DepravedHomosexual, a DirtyOldMonk preying upon young women, or an agent of the Spanish sent to instigate rebellion.

** The series implies that Robert Cecil wrote the anonymous letter to Monteagle revealing the Gunpowder Plot in order to warn the King and hide his own deal with the Spanish behind the King's back. This is an artistic invention. In reality, while there is no concrete proof of the letter's authorship, historians generally agree that it was almost certainly written by Sir Thomas Tresham, cousin and father to various conspirators, possibly with Anne Vaux.

* HeroofAnotherStory: The story of how a Black man arrived in England and became Robert Cecil's personal scribe is bound to be utterly fascinating.

* AmbiguouslyGay: As in real life, it's uncertain whether King James is in a romantic same sex relationship with Sir Philip Stewart or if they're just ''extremely'' close friends. The most overt moment is in the very end, when Philip offers to take James to bed, but Philip ''is'' an official Gentleman of the Bedchamber, so it's still not entirely certain.

** Philip Stewart is implied to fall out of favor with King James as a result of trivializing the Gunpowder Plot, but Philip enjoyed royal favor throughout the rest of James' life, and even into the reign of Charles I.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Catesby's aunt Lady Dorothy is stripped naked and slowly crushed by weights in public. The episode's reaction on social media made it clear that many were not expecting such a graphic scene just after the {{Watershed}}, while the producers justified it as a necessary explanation of why Catesby would plan to destroy parliament.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Dorothy's CruelAndUnusualDeath is for refusing to betray Henry Garnet.

''Gunpowder'' is a three-part BBC series dramatizing the Gunpowder Plot. Creator/KitHarington plays Robert Catesby, the leader of a conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Joining him are Edward Holcroft as Thomas Wintour, his primary accomplice, Tom Cullen as his most famous accomplice Guy Fawkes, Creator/LivTyler as his sympathetic sister Anne Vaux, and Mark Gatiss as his primary antagonist Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury.

* AmbiguouslyGay: As in real life, it's uncertain whether King James is in a homosexual relationship with Sir Philip Stewart or if they're just ''extremely'' close friends. The most overt moment is in the very end, when Philip offers to take James to bed, but Philip ''is'' an official Gentleman of the Bedchamber, so it's still not entirely certain.

** The series implies that Robert Cecil wrote the anonymous letter to Monteagle revealing the Gunpowder Plot in order to warn the King and hide his own deal with the Spanish behind the King's back. This is an artistic invention. In reality, while there is no concrete proof of the letter's authorship, historians generally agree that it was almost certainly written by Sir Thomas Tresham, cousin and father to various conspirators.

* EveryoneHasStandards: A clearly distraught Wade begs Dorothy to make a plea and end her suffering while she's being tortured. While they don't intervene, Catesby and Wintour seem affected by the sight of two "heretics" being burned at the stake by the Spanish inquisition, one of whom is a Jewish woman.

* MirroringFactions: After a whole episode of Catholics being brutally executed, the second episode shows that Catholic Spain just as brutally executes heretics.

* EveryoneHasStandards: A clearly distraught Wade begs Dorothy to make a plea and end her suffering while she's being tortured.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: The Catholic plotters represent ALighterShadeOfGrey because they are family men who want to overthrow a tyrant, but are prepared to kill his children in the explosion. The Protestants are fanatics who torture prisoners, but also want to prevent England reverting to the anarchy and civil war that preceded the Tudors.

* GoodHairEvilHair: Guy Fawkes has a BadassBeard and buzzcut, and Catesby is a LongHairedPrettyBoy with PermaStubble. TheJailer who runs Wade's dungeon and executed the priests has the BaldOfEvil.

** Catesby didn't rescue John Gerard from prison. His escape was masterminded by Nicolas Owen, a Jesuit priest who is not featured in the series. After his escape, however, Gerard did seek out Catesby.

* BigBad: EvilChancellor Lord Robert Cecil, a Puritan KnightTemplar who wants to purge England of Catholics.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Catesby's aunt Lady Dorothy is stripped naked and slowly crushed by weights in public. The episode's reaction on sociel media made it clear that many were not expecting such a graphic scene just after the {{Watershed}}, while the producers justified it as a necessary explanation of why Catesby would plan to destroy parliament.

* EthnicMenialLabor: Lord Mounteagle's servant is a black African, presumably purchased from Portuguese or Arab slave traders as the English had not yet established plantations in the New World.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: The Catholic plotters represent ALighterShadeOfGrey because they are family men who want to overthrow a tyrant, but are prepared to kill his children in the explosion. The Puritans are fanatics who torture prisoners, but also want to prevent England reverting to the anarchy and civil war that preceded the Tudors.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Catesby and Winter are killed with a single bullet, which is actually TruthInTelevision (though not performed by Wade as in the series)
* TheLancer: Thomas Winter is best friend to TheHero Robert Catesby.

* MyNameIs: The first episode ends with Guy Fawkes dramatically identifying himself by name.

* NotSoDifferent: After a whole episode of Catholics being brutally executed, the second episode shows that Catholic Spain just as brutally executes heretics.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Catesby's aunt Lady Dorothy is stripped naked and slowly crushed by weights in public. The episode's reaction on sociel media made it clear that many were not expecting such a graphic scene just after the {{Watershed}}, while the producers justified it as [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped a necessary explanation]] of why Catesby would plan to destroy parliament.