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Toodles Henry, Hello Rodrigo Borgia: Showtime's new historical drama The Borgias

By April MacIntyre Jan 11, 2010, 17:23 GMT

British actor Jeremy Irons EPA/ANDY RAIN

Showtime will bid adieu to the splendid period drama "The Tudors" after season four, which was a sensory delight, especially if you are a crafts junkie as I am.  

"We've run out of wives," Showtime's president Robert Greenblatt quipped Saturday as he introduced the photo blown up on the screens of Jeremy Irons decked out in finery as Rodrigo Borgia.

Deft camera work by DP Ousama Rawi, award-winning costume work of Joan Bergin, and the fantastic art department - which includes hard-working set decorators, production designers and their army of people - topped off by the wonderful Irish countryside where it was filmed and the outstanding writing of Michael Hirst made for a great ride back into English history.

Now Showtime has announced at the TCAs (this past Saturday) that all us lovers of juicy period drama get to mangia Italiano with the infamous Borgia family, one of my favorite dysfunctional families from the Renaissance period.

There is sadness that we have to say goodbye to Jonathan Rhys Meyers in his lusty portrayal of King Henry VIII.  Fans of Jeremy Northam (Sir Thomas More) will delight in their actor popping up in the anticipated Jerry Bruckheimer "Miami Medical" drama coming to sister CBS in primetime on April 2, 2010. 

The Borgias was created and will be executive produced by director Neil Jordan, and is also produced by the man who wrote the entire series "The Tudors," Michael Hirst. The show will go into production this summer, for a scheduled debut in early 2011.

The Borgias were a prominent Noble family in Italy's days of yore, and Hirst at the wheel of the scribes will ensure that the drama will be loaded with plenty of intrigue, sexy affairs, and stunning costumes.  

The cast of characters includes Rodrigo's two twisted sons, Cesare and Juan, as well as, of course, daughter Lucrezia, who at 14 was the most sought-after political marital match in Europe and who reputedly developed an expertise with poison.

The 13-episode season will follow the Borgia crime family in the auspicious year of 1492. 

The Borgias is scheduled to air in Spring 2011.