Byron

This column first ran in The Age on February 21, 2004

Justin Timberlake might think he's racy, what with having got Janet half naked by the end of the Superbowl, but if you watch Byron (ABC, 8.30pm, this Sunday and next) you will get a taste of what racy really is. (And, as a total aside, why are American so much more outraged by Janet's breast than the fact their president took them to war with Iraq under false pretext. How many deaths is Janet's breast responsible for vs. George Bush's policies?)

Lord Byron led no ordinary life, which means the television version is no ordinary period drama. Beautiful and bisesexual, Byron also had club-foot, a deformity he saw as the devil's mark and a fact he used to explain some of his more outrageous behaviour. Timberlake might have taken Britney Spears virginity and felt our Kylie's bum, but Byron had sex with boys, half of English (female) society - most notably Lady Caroline Lamb, who dubbed him 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' - before falling in love with his half sister, Augusta Leigh and marrying Lady Caroline's cousin to cover his tracks.

Sure he'd become an overnight success with this poem 'Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage' but even that didn't save him from the scandal that erupted once his wife, Annabella Milbanke accused him of sodomising her and Lady Caroline Lamb vengefully began spreading rumours about his relationship with his sister. Byron did what any self-respecting incestuous sodomiser would do and headed for Italy to write poetry.

Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting) is perfect as Byron - indeed all the cast is good. Writer Nick Dear has also given much screen time to the one constant figure in Byron's life, his manservant William Fletcher, beautifully underplayed by Philip Glenister. I was struck how rare it is for a British drama to prioritise dramatising the hierarchal, but heartfelt friendships that occurred between the classes. Fletcher's fate is, in many ways, as moving as Byron's.

Vanessa Redgrave is terrific as Lady Melbourne, who is titillated by Byron until she understands how far he is capable of going. Natasha Little give a good performance in a confused role - Augusta Leigh's motivations and feelings never really make sense. There are some criticisms. I would have liked more on Byron's European life, particularly his life in Italy, which he shared to some extent with the writers Percy and Mary Shelley. This series focus on the English scandals of Byron's twenties rather than his more mature, though still chaotic thirties. By 36 he was dead. If it was the conventions of British society that sent him half mad, it seems it was the conventions of British medicine that killed him.

If you want to know more about those who lack impulse control, watch the terrific three -part ABC series Primal Instincts that begins this week (Wednesday, 8.30pm) and explores the emotions Anger, Happiness and Fear. How much free will do human beings really have? None would be Byron's answer to that as he passionately pursued his fate.

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