Showtime "The Borgias" Redefines Debauchery

The Borgias were a15th/16th century Spanish family that took power in Italy. Rodrigo, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia had a hand in Europe's Renaissance; they also dispensed poison, simony (the selling of Church indulgences), political intrigue, and murder (to name a few of their cardinal sins). "The Borgias" is a new showtime mini-series that promises to redefine debauchery.

At the head of the family is Rodrigo Borgia, aka Pope Alexander VI. Jeremy Irons (who should be a "sir" but for his Labour Party leanings) will rock the Rodrigo with his chilly, urbane voice and patrician demeanor. Not remembering just where you last saw Jeremy Irons? I first discovered Irons in "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981, alongside a young and gorgeous Meryl Streep).

You might recall him from "Brideshead Revisited" (1981 as Charles Ryder), "Dead Ringers", "Reversal of Fortune" (Klaus Von Bulow), "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" (opposite Alan Rickman as Simon Gruber), "Lolita" (Humbert Humbert), "Eragon" and "Dungeons and Dragons". And who could forget, "The Lion King", as Simba's wicked avuncular Scar.

Jeremy Irons does historical characters rather well: Tiberias in "Kingdom of Heaven", Aramis in "The Man in the Iron Mask" (to John Malkovich's Athos, Gerard Depardieu's Porthos, Gabriel Byrne's D'Artagnon and DiCaprio's Louis XIV. Irons did "Casanova" with the Heath Ledger and "The Time Machine" with Guy Pearce. My all time favorite role of Jeremy Irons is his spiritually haunting portrayal of Antonio to Al Pacino's Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice".

My very good friend will be very pleased to see Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia. She subscribes the distinction given to Irons of "The Thinking Woman's Pin-up". In a monastic sort of way, he is very sexy. I prefer Ronan Vibert (Giovani Sforza); he's an acquired taste that I picked up in 1995 when I saw him in "Mystery! Cadfael". Other cast members in "The Borgias" are pretty sexy, too. David Oakes (Juan Borgia) and Luke Pasqualino (Paulo) will set girlish hearts a twitter. The piece de resistance is Francois Arnaud as the definitive bad boy, Cesare Borgia.

Looking forward to Holliday Grainger as the first femme fatale, that woman of mystery Lucrezia Borgia. What great fun that role would be to play. If Mata Hari, Catherine de Medici, Jezebel, Juno and Cleopatra shared an older sister, it would be Lucrezia Borgia.

"The Borgias" premiers April 3 at 9 p.m. on Showtime. Come on in, the arsenic's fine. For more poisonously good movies, check out my linked blogs.