Bio glosses over poet's dark side

Jonny Lee Miller, who plays the lead in Byron is watchable, but has treated the character as a bright but bad lad with a sharp tongue

The first half of Saturday night's BBC biographical drama Byron (TV One) set out with gusto to show how a 19th century English poet could achieve his very own adjective, but it didn't quite succeed in explaining how "Byronic" became a lasting byword for mysterious, dark allure.

Overnight celebrity, we learned, isn't the sole preserve of these days of internet sex tapes and stalking paparazzi. After publishing Childe Harold Byron woke up and found himself the toast of London. He then proceeded to turn famous to infamous by spending up large, shagging a lot and scandalously. Fun though it is, this is not the drama to watch for any real insight into his literary genius.

We first met the poet on his Grand Tour, tasting the many delights - including a teenage Greek boy lover - of the mysterious "East". One or two louche scenes later, his money had run out and he was back in dreary uptight old England, swilling wine out of his infamous human skull goblet and wondering what to do next.

An account to a friend of his first speech in Parliament told us that his politics included radical views on social justice. But so much for the serious stuff. As those who have goggled over the front page problems of the National Party leader know, sex is far more intriguing than politics.

Byron then set about charming society, capitalising on his fame, having an outrageous affair with Lady Caroline Lamb - she who called him "mad, bad and dangerous to know" - until he tired of her, became obsessed with his half-sister Augusta and then, at her urging, married for money.

Yes, Byron is a bodice ripper but it's a quality one, with all the period drama trimmings and the likes of Vanessa Redgrave putting in a sterling performance as socialite Lady Melbourne, a combination of outrageous old flirt and wise confidante to the celebrity poet.

One of the highlights is Natasha Little, who plays Augusta, object of Byron's incestuous obsession. This drama portrays Augusta as the love of the poet's life, and Little's mix of open book charm and sunny sensuality is entirely convincing.

Lead Jonny Lee Miller (of Trainspotting fame) is highly watchable but plays the poet more as a bright but bad lad with a sharp tongue and a bit of a temper, rather than the charismatic man who was an epoch's object of dark fascination. He plays Byron's passion more as the overused and abused modern meaning of the word, than the all-consuming, transcendental experience which was the hallmark of the Romantic period. Still, we got a few laughs out of the foibles of the time, such as seeing him with curlers in his hair before he went out on the town

If the drama is making comparisons to modern day celebrity culture, it virtually ignores the fact that Byron wasn't just famous for being famous. His poetry makes cameo appearances only: his best friend refers to it as his "scribblings" and the script treats it almost as dismissively.

Some references in the drama would have been unintelligible without some knowledge of the poet's life and there was little to explain why he is considered the epitome of the Romantic movement. It offered some intriguing scenes of people poring over their new copies of Childe Harold, just as if it were the Suri Cruise photos in Vanity Fair, but we never learned what it was about the work that caused such excitement.

Apart from a round-up of his conquests, those unfamiliar with Byron are not going to come out much the wiser as to the dark, tragic nature of his life. Still, there's plenty to enjoy in this romp through Regency England, not least its strangely appealing mix of Jane Austen-meets-Jilly Cooper.