Lizzie’s (Amy Manson) life spirals out of control

Rossetti and Lizzie return from their honeymoon, ready to settle into conventional married life, in the final episode of BBC Two’s drama following the lives and loves of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. However, when Millais proposes the idea of an artistic colony for the Brotherhood and their wives, Rossetti is immediately attracted by the bohemian notion of group living. Lizzie – used to Rossetti’s wandering eye – is less than enthusiastic.

True to form, within days of their return, Rossetti starts up a flirtation with William Morris’s wife, Jane Burden. Ruskin also abandons Lizzie, withdrawing his support for her art. As her life seemingly spirals out of control, Lizzie turns to the highly potent narcotic, laudanum, to numb her pain.

Hunt, meanwhile, sets out to win back Annie Miller, hoping to persuade her to move into Millais’s colony with him. He sends Fred to deliver his latest offer of marriage. Annie, unsurprisingly, has had enough of Hunt and tells Fred that she has no intention of accepting the proposal. Fred seizes his own chance of happiness and proposes to her himself, even though he’s still in love with Lizzie. Annie laughs off the offer, leaving Fred humiliated and vowing, in future, to always tell the truth, no matter how brutal.

When Fred chooses the fragile Lizzie as a recipient of one of his home truths, little can he imagine the devastating consequences…

Aidan Turner plays Dante Gabriel Rossetti; Amy Manson plays Lizzie Siddal; Samuel Barnett plays John Millais; Natalie Thomas plays Jane Burden; Tom Hollander plays John Ruskin; Rafe Spall plays William Holman Hunt; Jennie Jacques plays Annie Miller; and Sam Crane plays Fred Walters.

Desperate Romantics is simulcast on the BBC HD channel – the BBC’s High Definition channel, available through Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media.

Lizzie (Amy Manson ) and Rossetti (Aidan Turner)

enjoy their new-found wealth

Rossetti and Lizzie revel in their new-found status and wealth, acquired courtesy of Ruskin’s generous patronage, as the Pre-Raphaelite drama continues. Swept up in a whirlwind of late-night partying and debauchery they forget all about their art, including the commissions that they’ve promised to complete. Ruskin’s displeasure at their antics prompts him to threaten withdrawal of his support unless Rossetti and Lizzie focus on their commitments.

While Lizzie is swift to obey Ruskin’s orders, Rossetti, as usual, struggles to knuckle down. Instead he embarks on a raunchy affair with street girl, Fanny Cornforth. Fanny – unlike Lizzie – has a voluptuous beauty that inspires Rossetti to a new, richer and more sensual style of painting. Indeed, Fanny’s unbridled hedonism, as opposed to Lizzie’s tendency towards neurosis, seems to inspire a new lease of life in Rossetti altogether.

Rossetti receives further creative succour from his new young students, William Morris and Ned Burne-Jones, who offer their unadulterated worship and their much-needed assistance with a new commission for a church mural. While Rossetti enjoys himself, Lizzie, forever worried about losing him to another woman, struggles to keep her distance. It seems only a matter of time before she returns to find him in Fanny’s arms…

Dante Gabriel Rossetti is played by Aidan Turner; Lizzie Siddal by Amy Manson; John Ruskin by Tom Hollander; Fanny Cornforth by Rebecca Davies; William Morris by Dyfrig Morri; and Ned Burne-Jones by Peter Sandys-Clarke.

The cast also includes Rafe Spall as William Holman Hunt; Samuel Barnett as John Millais; Sam Crane as Fred Walters; Jennie Jacques as Annie Miller; and Zoë Tapper as Effie Ruskin.

Desperate Romantics is simulcast on the BBC HD channel – the BBC’s High Definition channel, available through Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media.

Annie (Jennie Jacques) seduces Fred while Hunt is far away

While Hunt is far away in the Holy Land, Fred endeavours to fulfil his promise to look after Annie and prevent her from getting up to mischief, as the BBC Two drama following the lives and loves of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood continues. Annie has an agenda of her own, however, and it’s not long before Fred has been seduced by her charms. Hunt soon returns from the Holy Land – none the wiser about Annie and Fred’s liaison. Ironically, Annie’s improved self-control under Fred’s care prompts Hunt to ask for her hand in marriage.

Rossetti, meanwhile, receives an encouraging visit from Ruskin who, with Millais no longer on his books, is looking for a new protégé. Rossetti is so excited by the prospect of Ruskin’s patronage that he finally proposes to Lizzie. However, in spite of newly-wed Millais’s smug insistence that married life is the key to true happiness, both Hunt and Rossetti begin to waver at the prospect of what lies ahead.

Fred looks on as his friends start to panic, while frantically concealing from Hunt his secret affair with Annie.

Desperate Romantics is simulcast on the BBC HD channel – the BBC’s High Definition channel, available through Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media.

William Holman Hunt is played by Rafe Spall; Fred Walters by Sam Crane; Annie Miller by Jennie Jacques; Dante Gabriel Rossetti by Aidan Turner; John Ruskin by Tom Hollander; John Millais by Samuel Barnett; and Lizzie Siddal by Amy Manson.