Versailles: Series 1+2

Versailles, 1667. Louis XIV in a Machiavellian political move in his 28th year decides to make the nobility submit to his will by imposing a move of the court from Paris to Versailles, his father's former hunting lodge. Trapped by their king's invitation, the nobles of Paris gradually come to see the castle as a gilded prison and soon even his most humble courtiers begin to show their viciousness and danger threatens the kingdom, even so far as the court of Versailles into which a deadly poison seeps. Louis has created a new and dangerous civilisation where those around him will do anything to get to the Sun. They dream of ascending the social ladder to a world of wealth and power. Morality is waning, as sexual infidelity, drugs and gambling occupy the idle hours of those who live by the grace of the King, and the poison spreads. All around the Sun King, Versailles is crumbling faster than it is being built.