Home > Catherine the Great > Miniseries « TV Series Page Catherine the Great: Miniseries (2019) Want to see Episode List Miniseries Catherine the Great Critics Consensus Helen Mirren delivers a commanding performance in Catherine the Great, a sumptuously rendered drama that's only real shortcoming is its limited runtime. 78% TOMATOMETER Critic Ratings: 27 No Score Yet Audience Score User Ratings: 0 NEW More Info × Close Want to see Super Reviewer Submit Super Reviewer Edit Review Episodes 1 Episode 1 Air date: Oct 21, 2019 Series premiere. Russian Empress Catherine the Great faces challenges to her throne on all sides as she meets the forthright and bold Lieutenant Grigory Potemkin. More 2 Episode 2 Air date: Oct 28, 2019 A victorious Potemkin returns from war to find Catherine preoccupied, leading the two to speak candidly about their pasts and future, while a Cossack stirs discontent among peasants in the countryside. More 3 Episode 3 Air date: Nov 4, 2019 Catherine and Potemkin experience growing pains in their relationship, as Potemkin's push for expansion puts him at odds with Panin. More 4 Episode 4 Air date: Nov 11, 2019 Series finale. Pressure from foreign powers leads to a bitter argument between Catherine and an ailing Potemkin. Catherine works to change the line of succession as her reign draws to an end. More Tv Season Info Genre: Drama Network: HBO Premiere Date: Oct 21, 2019 News & Interviews for Catherine the Great: Miniseries TV Premiere Dates 2019 View All Catherine the Great: Miniseries News Episodes 1 Episode 1 Air date: Oct 21, 2019 Series premiere. Russian Empress Catherine the Great faces challenges to her throne on all sides as she meets the forthright and bold Lieutenant Grigory Potemkin. More 2 Episode 2 Air date: Oct 28, 2019 A victorious Potemkin returns from war to find Catherine preoccupied, leading the two to speak candidly about their pasts and future, while a Cossack stirs discontent among peasants in the countryside. More 3 Episode 3 Air date: Nov 4, 2019 Catherine and Potemkin experience growing pains in their relationship, as Potemkin's push for expansion puts him at odds with Panin. More 4 Episode 4 Air date: Nov 11, 2019 Series finale. Pressure from foreign powers leads to a bitter argument between Catherine and an ailing Potemkin. Catherine works to change the line of succession as her reign draws to an end. More Critic Reviews for Catherine the Great Miniseries All Critics (27) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (6) Although you should watch Catherine simply to enjoy the rare reverse May-December pairings, the show isn't by any means perfect. Oct 21, 2019 | Full Review… Rebecca Onion Slate Top Critic Nothing is subtle about it: not the acting, not the directing by Philip Martin, not the production design, not the costumes. Oct 11, 2019 | Rating: B | Full Review… Ann Donahue indieWire Top Critic The producers and commissioning editors made a decision that their heroine would be older - much older - on screen than she was in real life. Has this happened before? I can't think that it has... and really, it is quite fantastic: game-changing, almost. Oct 3, 2019 | Full Review… Rachel Cooke New Statesman Top Critic This series isn't just a vehicle for [Helen Mirren], it's a golden carriage. She is sumptuously dressed and adoringly, luminously photographed in great palaces in Russia. It's an amazing spectacle but Mirren easily dominates it. Oct 3, 2019 | Full Review… David Sexton London Evening Standard Top Critic Fabulous as the sets are, they pale next to the magnificence of Helen Mirren, looking as creamily ageless as though she's bathed in all the caviar of Lake Baikal. Sep 27, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review… Suzi Feay Financial Times Top Critic Catherine the Great is the historical drama series I've been waiting for; massive, lush, beautiful, and with an element that's so often missing in big dramas about major figures: incredibly human. Sep 26, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review… Clair Woodward Daily Telegraph (UK) Top Critic It's a production of epic proportion, but it works so well because even its title character is scaled down to a relatable level. Oct 22, 2019 | Full Review… Alci Rengifo Entertainment Voice Helen Mirren is her usual force of nature in Catherine The Great. Oct 21, 2019 | Full Review… Joel Keller Decider There's a thin line between costume-drama soap and comic-book sophomorica, and Catherine The Great practically erases it. Oct 21, 2019 | Full Review… Glenn Garvin Reason Online Catherine the Great reframes her desire as part of her glory - and revels in that glory, without asking too many awkward questions. Oct 21, 2019 | Full Review… Sonia Saraiya Vanity Fair Racy, interesting and visually arresting. Oct 18, 2019 | Full Review… Anne Brodie What She Said She's great. The miniseries, not so much. Oct 18, 2019 | Full Review… Mark Dawidziak Cleveland Plain Dealer View All Critic Reviews (27) Audience Reviews for Catherine the Great: Miniseries 12h ago Hellen Mirren may be one of the wonders of the acting world, but playing a newly elevated Catherine the Great, who was just 32 at the time of her ascension, is not in Mirren's bag of tricks. The introduction of characters is done at a rip-roaring pace, and even having knowledge of the key players in Catherine's real life court, I'm still struggling to identify and differentiate between them on screen. The dialogue is filled with the typical mixture of clever quips and "disobey me and I'll kill you" lines, which one expects, but one also hopes that this mix will be captivating or emotion-provoking. Sadly they are not. Perhaps most problematic is the pace of this production. Fifteen minutes is all you need to realize that this was likely originally written as an hour-long weekly show, destined for multiple seasons. What we are given has been boiled down and condensed into a miniseries, which moves so fast that after the first installment I had no idea how we got from the opening scene to the closing line. It's an absolute tragedy, because even as an unbelievable 32-year-old, I still want to see Mirren's take on this heroine grow. We, her television subjects, however, will have to be satisfied with this half attempt that HBO has given us. Even with all of the problems that this show has, the costuming, over-the-top sets, and attention to detail do a great deal to lift this period piece when it begins to fall flat. I think history buffs will have to be content with these elements, because the rest is simply frustrating. If I can watch the remaining episodes semi-attentively and with my eyes in a squint, it might not be half bad... or half good. Debbie R 13h ago A lot of aesthetics, a lot of saturation and little plot to work with make this series pure stuffing, narrating in four hours what could be summed up in less than two Luis P 1d ago Helen Mirren is amazing Cate Y See all Audience reviews News & Features 150 Erotic Movies Ranked worst to best! 2019's Most Anticipated 63 movies coming up this year 200 Essential Movies Chosen by RT staff! 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