Artistic License History / Gunpowder

• Tom Cullen doesn't look much like the real Guy Fawkes, particularly because Fawkes had long ginger hair rather than the cropped hair and black beard he sports here. This was a deliberate decision on the part of Cullen and the show's creators to make Fawkes stand out from the rest of the cast.
• The Plotters' last stand is condensed. In the series, their wet gunpowder is ignited by a fallen candle during the firefight with the king's men, but in reality this was caused by a random spark from the hearth before the king's men even arrived. Also, in real life, there were 200 soldiers, while in the series there are only about 20.
• Catesby didn't rescue John Gerard from prison. His escape was masterminded by Nicolas Owen, a Jesuit priest who is not featured in the series. After his escape, however, Gerard did seek out Catesby.
• Philip Stewart is implied to fall out of favor with King James as a result of trivializing the Gunpowder Plot, but Philip enjoyed royal favor throughout the rest of James' life, and even into the reign of Charles I.
• The series implies that Robert Cecil wrote the anonymous letter to Monteagle revealing the Gunpowder Plot in order to warn the King and hide his own deal with the Spanish behind the King's back. This is an artistic invention. In reality, while there is no concrete proof of the letter's authorship, historians generally agree that it was almost certainly written by Sir Francis Tresham, cousin and father to various conspirators.
• Catesby is portrayed as if he's a wanted outlaw and vagabond, but mere days before the assassination attempt, he was still in good enough graces with the court that he was scheduled to go hunting with the king.

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