In Bed with the Enemy

England, 1485. With the Lancastrian victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field and the death of King Richard III, Henry Tudor is now King Henry VII, King of England. Prior to the battle Princess Elizabeth of York had been promised to Henry in marriage in order to unite the houses of York and Lancaster and end the Wars of the Roses. However, neither Henry nor Elizabeth is keen on the marriage.

The White Princess follows on from The White Queen, the story of Elizabeth Woodville who married King Edward IV and became Queen of England and who is mother to Princess Elizabeth of York. While the continuity of storyline between the two series is very good, watching the first episode of The White Princess is quite a confusing experience.

The main issue is that every actor and actress has changed from the previous series. There's a vast overlap between the two series yet no continuity of cast. Even worse, many of the new performers don't resemble the old ones, physically or in mannerisms, and some of their character traits have been changed too so it is initially hard to get into The White Princess.

The story is also a bit jarring in that I didn't realise that the relationship between Henry and Elizabeth would get off to such a rocky start. The White Queen presented the marriage as solution to all of England's problems and the Battle of Bosworth Field reinforced that feeling.

This said, once you work out who everybody is it and realise that things aren't quite the plain sailing you expected it would be it is reasonably interesting.