The real power behind the gunpowder plot… and it wasn’t Guy Fawkes

A SHOCKING docu-drama shows Guy Fawkes was merely a minor player in a wider plot to assassinate King James I.

Conspirators planned to blow up Parliament at its opening on Novem-ber 5, 1605, re-establishing Cathol-icism as England’s true religion.

Gunpowder Siege on Sky History dramatically reimagines the most infamous rebellion in British history, shattering myths to reveal the largely forgotten truth behind the plot.

Caught red-handed with 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath the Palace of Westminster in the early hours of November 5, Fawkes was seized as he prepared to unleash devastation and “blow the Scottish King and all his Scottish Lords back to Scotland”. 

In reality he was peripheral figure in a larger rebellion fighting for Catholic freedom, programme makers claim.

The three-part series starting on Monday night reveals the plot leaders were Robert Catesby,
his cousin Thomas Wintour and their ruthless enforcer and “blunt instrument” Thomas Percy. 

Instantly branded the most wanted men in England, they and their co-conspirators raced from London to the Midlands, desperately seeking to ignite a Catholic rebellion in the aftermath of the failed explosion.

The plan was to overthrow King James and place his young daughter, Princess Elizabeth, on the throne.

And while Catesby, Wintour and Percy tried to raise a revolutionary army, Fawkes endured brutal torture in the Tower, only naming names after three days on the rack.

Director Mark Everest said: “It’s a story that hasn’t been adequately told before. I was brought up at a time when a guy was put on a bonfire every 5th of November, and everyone saw this figure of Guy Fawkes as a focus of ridicule. It really was just about a big fire burning some effigy before letting off fireworks, and that was about as far as it went.

“It’s interesting how we are spoon-fed history sometimes. Robert Catesby, Thomas Wintour and Thomas Percy were the people behind the plot.” He adds: “It’s about their friendship in the four days after the event when they were on the run even though from that moment on, they were doomed.

“A lot of people labour under the illusion that the plot was all about Guy Fawkes, but he was just one element of it. The state singled him out because he was the guy who was caught attempting to light the fuse, but he didn’t plan it at all. 

“Catesby was the mastermind of the conspiracy.”

“Their plan was radical. Obviously, no one condones terrorism, which is effectively what it was.

“We address Fawkes as a character, so he’s not two-dimensional anymore, but a human being, rather than just this object of ridicule.”

Game of Thrones and The Good Doctor actor Chuku Modu, who plays Catesby, said: “I didn’t know who any of these people were, bar Guy Fawkes. The more I researched it, the more I found out Guy Fawkes was just a small cog in a big wheel.

“Catesby was the mastermind and the leader of this group of conspirators. He was irresistibly influential. Anyone who crossed paths with him and had a conversation with him was quickly lured by his ambition and by the things he said.” 

After the failed plot, a dozen or so conspirators holed up in Holbeche House in Kingswinford, Staffs. Several were badly maimed when gunpowder left to dry in front of the fire was ignited by a stray spark. 

On November 8, the house was surrounded by a posse led by the Sheriff of Worcestershire.

In the ensuing siege four plotters, including Catesby, were killed. Eight were convicted of treason and hung, drawn and quartered. Some walls of Holbeche House still have holes from muskets used in fight.

Chris Collett, of Historic England, said: “Holbeche House was added last year to the Heritage at Risk Register, owing to its poor condition.  We are keen to see it restored and repurposed for future generations.”

* Gunpowder Siege starts on Sky History Monday at 9pm.