Those are the lyrics to The Stooges\u2019s I Wanna Be Your Dog, a seductive, grungy, three-chord number that\u2019s used in the trailer for Mary & George<\/a>, a historical drama based on the remarkable true story<\/a> of <\/span>Mary Villiers and her second-born son, George.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The pair used their collective cunning to <\/span>position themselves in <\/span>King James I\u2019s inner circle, in turn becoming one of the most noteworthy noble families in Britain, and they did so using sex \u2013 hence the team responsible for the show\u2019s very effective marketing seizing upon that Stooges track.<\/span><\/p>\n Mary, played here by Julianne Moore, is the brains of the operation, certainly in the earlier stages of their master plan, <\/span>instigating proceedings in a bid to firmly distance herself from her murky past. George, portrayed by<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Nicholas Galitzine<\/a>, <\/span>is her mightiest weapon, wielding his cherubic features<\/span> with aplomb to seduce the royal (Tony Curran<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n But while sex sits at the very heart of this saucy tale, many of the sex scenes in Mary & George<\/a> are surprisingly unsexy, despite initial impressions.<\/p>\n As searching, greedy hands tear off clothing and claw at flesh, so many of those moments are, on deeper reflection, a turn-off<\/em> because they\u2019re purely transactional.<\/p>\n \u201cYou never paid, or took pay for your body? Didn\u2019t you buy everything with it,\u201d Niamh Algar\u2019s Sandie Brooks, a sex worker who becomes Mary\u2019s confidante and bedfellow, asks George.<\/p>\n In this cutthroat world, sex is so often a type of currency, largely used to manipulate and manoeuvre oneself into a more favourable position to avoid ruin.<\/p>\n Suddenly, rather than feeling hot under the collar, the air is quickly reduced to a chill.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n The most overt example, excluding what happens inside the brothels, is the dynamic between George and the king, which would not have materialised had it not been for Mary\u2019s conspiring \u2013 and it really goes without saying that there is nothing less sexy than having your mum dabble in your love life, as No Hard Feelings<\/a>\u00a0can attest to.<\/p>\n During all of their early rendezvous, in the period before George grows in confidence and begins to defy his mother, Mary\u2019s words about ensuring their family\u2019s survival ring out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n George must<\/em> secure James. Fail to do that and the Villiers remain intensely vulnerable, which Mary is quick to remind him of at every possible opportunity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And lest we forget that one wrong move from George could prompt the king to order his demise. The threat of poverty and death are always looming \u2013 on one occasion James bites his young lover so hard he draws blood, a shock to George\u2019s system and a sharp reminder that the king can do as he pleases.<\/p>\n And even as George ascends the social pecking order, his safety is not guaranteed, either from the royal or his many enemies, who circle like ravenous sharks at all times, waiting for the perfect lull in which to strike.<\/p>\n James\u2019s former chief lover Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset (<\/span>Laurie Davidson) <\/span>can speak to that.<\/span><\/p>\n The king\u2019s insatiable appetite for the next hot young thing also keeps George on the back foot, even when the pair are wrapped around one another in the royal bedchamber.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019m out of his sight or I refuse him, he forgets me, he latches on to another,\u201d says the exasperated young buck.<\/p>\n While an imbalance of power can have a seductive, erotic quality, however great the moral quandary, danger and destruction are never too far away, and sooner or later the house of cards will suffer a dramatic collapse.<\/p>\n And even as feelings of some description appear to grow between George and James, it\u2019s undercut by that void-like emptiness. When heart-rates slow as the feeding frenzy subsides, what is left in the quiet, still moments? Not much to speak of.<\/p>\n Mary\u2019s relationship with Sandie also draws comparisons. When George\u2019s mother allows herself to be dominated by her lover in intimate moments, the pair undoubtedly have sexual chemistry. But regardless, Algar\u2019s character never quite manages to unshackle herself from being perceived as \u2018useful\u2019 above all of the other qualities that maketh her.<\/p>\n We see that on one particular occasion when they begin kissing, but Mary also has questions, so many questions, about what Sandie has learned from her recent reconnaissance and, in an instant, <\/span>their sensual encounter is reduced, its relish swiftly dissipating.<\/p>\n \u201cDoes it look good for me when she\u2019s tried and hung?\u201d says Mary following Sandie\u2019s imprisonment, first concerned with her own reputation before the welfare of her so-called partner.<\/p>\n And while the Countess of Buckingham wants blood when her companion is murdered \u2013 \u201cHow I\u2019ve thought about slicing your throat, your blood for hers,\u201d she says to Sir Francis Bacon (Mark O\u2019Halloran), one of her fiercest detractors \u2013 tradition dictates that her concern largely rests with how her public image has been impacted.<\/p>\n Regardless of the connection the two women formed, it was always a means of control for Mary, necessary for her survival, as sex also is for George, both in his relationship with the king and with Katherine Manners (Mirren Mack), who becomes the Duchess of Buckingham solely as a means of consolidating their power further.<\/span><\/p>\n In Mary & George, sex is a business arrangement, a game plan, a necessity. And w<\/span>hile fun is certainly had along the way, pull back the bed covers too far and its true purpose delivers a rude awakening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> Mary & George arrived on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Tuesday 5th March. Find Sky deals here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310 \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n In the Sky Atlantic drama, sex is currency \u2013\u00a0and little else. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":47684,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/why-many-of-mary-georges-sex-scenes-are-actually-deeply-unsexy-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/why-many-of-mary-georges-sex-scenes-are-actually-deeply-unsexy-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/why-many-of-mary-georges-sex-scenes-are-actually-deeply-unsexy-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/why-many-of-mary-georges-sex-scenes-are-actually-deeply-unsexy-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/why-many-of-mary-georges-sex-scenes-are-actually-deeply-unsexy-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/why-many-of-mary-georges-sex-scenes-are-actually-deeply-unsexy-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/why-many-of-mary-georges-sex-scenes-are-actually-deeply-unsexy-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In the Sky Atlantic drama, sex is currency \u2013\u00a0and little else.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/47683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"George](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/03\/maey-and-george--797db03.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Mary")
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![\"Laurie](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/03\/Features10MaryAndGeorgeS01-fdbe9a4.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Mary")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>![\"Sandie](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/03\/niamh-algar-b1d0374.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Mary")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
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