Based upon the "true" accounts of the Spanish Borgia family and it's head Pope Alexander VI who had an enormous ambition and an even bigger sexual appetite. Jeremy Irons was surprising casting at that time (when few film actors turned to TV) as the pope and the ensemble around him is filled with exceptional European and Canadian actors. The series look and sounds great and had a fascinating backdrop but sometimes it go "overkill" on shock value and gory moments which seems unnecessary and makes the series seem more like exploitation than as "true drama". The show was never completed as the series tell about the pope family from Alexander got the papal job up to the height of his power when he had removed all his enemies, but doesn't show the downfall and "poetic ending" of him or give his son (the true villain of the piece) the fate he deserves. That is probably a shame as the series seem to finish with the last 10% of the story left untold. Still, it is a solid series and it may make people interested in reading up on a part of Vatican history that one did not knew existed and that the Catholic Church would most hope would remain buried.