A Greek Odyssey with Bettany Hughes

Excellent way to lose one's mind after a long days'worth of listening to Professor this and that drone on about the numismatic history of Etruria; I must say that having her lecture me about anything whilst cruising the idyllic islands of the Aegean might perhaps prove...fulfilling? On a more serious note, I happened to watch her version of 'Boudica'. I won't be unkind to her in my VERY brief mention of it, except to say that a FAR FAR better understanding of her, as well as the Roman forces which smashed her evil rampages, can be found in Stephen Dando-Collins' 'Nero's Killing Machine', a book about General Paulinus and his 14th GMV Legion that gives the story without modern feminist biases in a perfectly fascinating way. I wish there was someone out there who would craft that masterwork into movie format.

Gosh, this was made in 2020? From her looks, clothes, camera angles, shots etc, it seems like it's 1998. This woman, apparently a historian, gives very bland historical lessons, occasionally inaccurate, often trying to connect history and present just to make the whole thing seem deep.

Who is the target audience? Bored housewives? Anyway, the biggest problem is that this woman is in EVERY scene, she is unbearable. It's like a long self promo. I can't believe how bad this is. And I actually watched her on some history/documentary channels, especially from Egypt. She was bearable there, but not here.

SKIP.

Bettany demonstrates again her great enthusiasm for the ancient Greek world. However like all Anglo Saxon culturally restrained is ill at ease with mixing with the modern extroaverted Greeks and which is betrayed with her constant nervous laughter. She does mention in the second episode that she had just finished another Nile episode which through fatigue may have caused slight problem with her nervousness. Otherwise beautiful scenery and cant wait to return to Greece once the COVID 19 travel restrictions have been lifted. Bettany shares a few a new discoveries and relatively little known sites such as those in Ikaria,Samos and Chios. In general a very good series demonstrating the legacy of Greece both historically, culturally and the pure physical beauty of the islands.

I've worked with a lot of Brits. When they take a vacation they say they're 'on holiday'. And that's just what Bettany Hughes is 'on' in this light and lively to look at series. If you're looking for a deep dive into Mycenean culture, it's not here. Just an engaging hostess with a zest for travel and camera crew that knows what its doing. Ms. Hughes has done admirable work in the past (The Spartans, comes to mind) but this is different. And it's fun. It's fun because she's clearly enjoying the heck out of it. You will too.

Bettany has absolutely no idea what she is talking about.

As a proud Greek I found it painful and insulting to watch...