In Shōgun, Cosmo Jarvis plays John Blackthorne, a sailor who’s the first Brit to set foot in Japan. New Zealand-born Anna Sawai plays the show’s leading female character Toda Mariko, who acts as Blackthorne’s translator and the object of his gruff affection.
The two rising stars spent nearly 11 months making the series, which is based on James Clavell’s bestselling slab of historical fiction from 1975. Judging by the reviews, the new Shōgun is shaping up as one of the television events of the year – just as it was back in 1980 with a global hit miniseries.
The new version, though, is less white-samurai-and-saviour, more in a 17th-century feudal Japan very much resembling the real thing. One where Christianity has begun to take hold, Western weapons
