Christopher Lee: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. Flay - Gormenghast (2000)

In comparison to a very lengthy film career, Lee hasn't made a great deal of TV appearances. Admittedly he was in his prime at a time when TV was considered inferior to film: the production values were lower, budgets were cheaper, and unless you fancied a life in soap opera there was much less scope for long-running work. But late in his career, Lee made an albeit brief appearance in a fantastic BBC miniseries, coming on the eve of his role in The Lord of the Rings. Gormenghast is a four-part miniseries based on the first two books of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, Titus Groan and Gormenghast. It follows the rise and fall of the Machiavellian former kitchen boy Steerpike, who ingratiates himself to the lords and ladies of the castle Gormenghast and proceeds to ruthlessly murder family members to increase his power. The world of the castle is bound up in endless and absurd rituals, which come to a head with the birth of Titus Groan, who eventually kills Steerpike and flees the castle to explore the outside world. While the miniseries is driven by the scheming performance of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Lee's role as Mr. Flay is very significant. He first spots Steerpike after his escape from the kitchen and remains suspicious of him, his invasiveness eventually resulting in his banishment. Speaking largely in broken sentences, Lee casts a gloomy shadow and epitomises the needless complexity and decay that affects all aspects of castle life. Watch out too for a funny bit of swashbuckling, as he and Richard Griffiths (playing Swelter the cook) sword-fight around a sleepwalking Ian Richardson.