‘Jamestown’ on the Masterpiece Channel: A Sexy, Soapy Take on American History

Bitter love triangles, intrepid women, and a colonial outpost steeped in soapy drama: these are just some of the things that make Jamestown on the Masterpiece Channel on Prime Video such a juicy binge watch. Instead of depicting the first successful British colony in America as a hotspot of heroism, Jamestown prefers to show the messy, sexy, stupid side of the colonists. The result? A silly fun show where the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Jamestown follows three women who were sent to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 to marry the male settlers: the noble-born and extremely manipulative Jocelyn (Naomi Battrick), the sweet and courageous Alice (Sophie Rundle), and the tough and sassy Verity (Niamh Walsh). Although they are different, the the three women soon forge an intense bond which they will need to survive what’s ahead. Alice is immediately raped by her husband to be, Henry Sharrow (Max Beasley), and finds herself in a tense romance with his younger brother Silas (Stuart Martin). Verity is partnered with a drunken innkeeper, Meredith Rutter (Dean Lennox Kelly), who makes for a surprisingly kind and loyal husband. Jocelyn is wed to the handsome recorder of the town (Gwilym Lee), but that only puts the schemer with a dark secret right in the mess of Jamestown politics.

If that doesn’t sound dramatic enough, Jamestown keeps upping the ante on the drama. Silas attempts to murder Henry, but only succeeds in leaving him horrifically scarred, physically and emotionally. There’s a whole hunt for a treasure map and significant attention paid to the chance that silver might be in Virginia. There are menacing soldiers and plantation owners who try to weasel the poorer colonists out of their tobacco farms, and yes, there is drama with local Native American tribes. On top of all that, there are love triangles, intense schemes gone awry, and yes, Jocelyn murdered someone in England. Jamestown also ends the first season with the arrival of the first African slaves, and it’s a chilling cliffhanger that only teases at the drama, pain, and horror to come.

Part of what makes Jamestown so much fun to watch is how messy all the colonists are. Early American colonists are often lauded as heroes, or even legends, but here they are selfish, bumbling idiots squabbling over scraps. While one of my friends aptly pointed out that everyone on this show is stupid, that’s kind of why I love it? While much of the show is wildly historically inaccurate, the idea that early American settlers were as foolish and selfish as people are today is spot on. It’s a hard truth that modern Americans don’t often like to grapple with: our nation wasn’t founded by saints, but sinners who were lucky enough to survive.

If you missed Jamestown when it originally aired on PBS, that’s because it never did air as a Masterpiece series. Jamestown was the very first exclusive series on the Masterpiece Channel on Prime Video. The pulpy, sexy series helped launch the service and has since been joined by the likes of Beecham House and a slew of international series curated by Walter Presents. See? The Masterpiece Channel on Prime Video is much more than Sanditon. (Though, I mean, Sanditon is like the reason to subscribe.)

Where to stream Jamestown