The Musketeers return to BBC One for a third season to face their greatest challenge.
After four years, a war-torn Paris has become a powder keg ready to explode. Refugees have flocked to the city in search of sanctuary. Food is scarce. Black market profiteering is rife. But the city’s governor, Phillipe Feron (Rupert Everett), is only too happy to exploit it all for his own ends with the support of his Red Guard thugs and the amoral gangster Lucien Grimaud (Matthew McNulty).
Minister Treville’s (Hugo Speer) repeated attempts to draw the King’s gaze to the crisis unfolding all around him have failed, but when the Musketeers briefly return from the war, he sees an opportunity.
Ordered to the heart of this simmering urban precinct, the Musketeers are charged with preventing catastrophe, but they still have their own battles to fight. Aramis did not join the Musketeers on the battlefield due to his decision to enter a monastery. Despite D’Artagnan’s obvious joy at returning home to Constance, both have been irrevocably changed by war. Athos has uneasily taken the mantle of Captain of the Musketeers, a position that comes under threat when he meets disarming revolutionary Sylvie. Meanwhile, Porthos’s battlefield exploits have made him a hero, but he no longer feels he belongs in an almost unrecognisable Paris…
> Buy the complete Season 1-2 box set on Amazon.
Season 3 shakes the Musketeers’ values to the core. It changes their allegiance to the crown, turns their personal lives upside down and compromises their loyalty to those they love, as well as their loyalty to each other.
Episode 1: ‘Spoils of War’
Saturday 28 May 2016, 9.30pm
In war-torn France and with the odds against them, D’Artagnan, Porthos and Athos go into battle with the Spanish, while Aramis battles his conscience at the nearby monastery.
When the evil Lucien Grimaud brings the war to Aramis’ new home, the former friends reunite to foil a stolen arms deal and rescue a group of war orphans. After four years and vowing to never fight again, is Aramis still a Musketeer at heart?
Meanwhile in Paris, a sinister new battle awaits in the form of the corrupt Governor, Philippe Feron, bastard brother of Louis XIII.
Episode 2: ‘The Hunger’
Saturday 11 June 2016, 8.30pm
With Paris on the brink of starvation, Grimaud and Feron join forces with the Duke of Beaufort to win the King’s business, by framing the city’s refugees for grain theft.
D’Artagnan’s hot temper makes him a Red Guard target and lands him in the Châtelet with the victims, whose execution date looms. With one man down, the Musketeers race to discover the truth.
Spirited refugee Sylvie catches Athos’ attention and vows to prove her friends’ innocence – but is he wise to trust her? With a spy in their midst, can the Musketeers break the conspirators’ grip on Paris before the refugees hang?
Episode 3: ‘Brother in Arms’
Monday 20 June 2016, 9pm
Under orders, the Musketeers defend Louis’ traitorous brother Gaston after he slaughters a band of veteran soldiers in a Paris tavern.
The heartbroken owner Christophe demands justice – but the preoccupied King welcomes his formerly exiled brother home with open arms. As tensions ignite and secrets spill, Treville crosses a dangerous line and the Musketeers are forced to choose between their royal duty and fellow soldiers.
Meanwhile, Feron and Grimaud spy a kindred spirit in Gaston.
Episode 4: ‘The Queen’s Diamonds’
Saturday 25 June 2016, 8.30pm
The future of the English monarchy rests on the Musketeers’ shoulders when Louis orders them to recover his sister the Queen of England’s missing crown jewels. It’s a daunting mission, made more complicated when they unmask the thief – the irrepressible Emile Bonnaire.
Fighting their instincts, the Musketeers must place their faith in their old adversary to hunt down the diamonds. The ensuing mayhem tests each Musketeer’s loyalties to the limit, and a surprise reunion results in heartbreak for Aramis.
Meanwhile, Feron seizes an opportunity to avoid personal scandal.
Episode 5: ‘To Play the King’
Saturday 2 July 2016, 8.30pm
The Musketeers battle to restore order in Paris after Grimaud and Feron stage an ambitious Châtelet breakout, setting free a lunatic with murderous designs, on the Louvre.
Using one prisoner’s unlikely talents to rob the royal vault, the plotters prepare to make their first move against the King. But ailing Feron is distracted, and his ruthless silencing of an unwelcome visitor could be Grimaud’s undoing.
Ambitions collide during the Dauphin’s birthday party, where a kind act by d’Artagnan pushes lovers together and ends in catastrophe.
Episode 6: ‘Death of a Hero’
Saturday 9 July 2016, 8.30pm
It’s the day of reckoning, as Grimaud vows to kill the Musketeers in a series of savage co-ordinated attacks, and puts Feron to the ultimate test in his bid for power.
With Athos distracted and Aramis on an unlikely pilgrimage with the King, the Musketeers are divided when they need each other most. The furious battle for survival sparks a series of revelations that threaten to destroy Paris.
Before the day is out, a hero falls, there’s a traitor on the rise, and the Musketeers will be changed forever.
Episode 7: ‘Fool’s Gold’
Saturday 16 July 2016, 8.30pm
In pursuit of Grimaud, the Musketeers stumble across a battle-scarred village where the women thrive without men.
Quick-witted leader Juliet is quick to warn the Musketeers off. Is she simply protecting her community, or is she hiding something?
When a gang of hardened war deserters attack, the Musketeers must earn the women’s trust to help them defend their independence – unearthing a secret history far darker than anything they’ve encountered before. Meanwhile, at the Louvre, Anne makes a bold confession to secure her son’s future.
Episode 8: ‘Prisoner of War’
Saturday 23 July 2016, 8.30pm
Aramis and the Queen’s attempts to broker peace with the Spanish go disastrously wrong, after Grimaud kidnaps Aramis in a bid to seal an alliance with the influential Duke of Lorraine.
Grimaud’s demands threaten to ruin the Queen, placing the Musketeers in an impossible situation as they battle to salvage her reputation and rescue Aramis – all while d’Artagnan’s family ties threaten to derail the mission.
As the King’s health goes into spectacular decline and a troublemaker returns to lay claim to Athos, Sylvie becomes a casualty of the ruthless power struggle enveloping Paris.
Episode 9: ‘The Prize’
Saturday 30 July 2016, 8.30pm
When death strikes the Louvre, Treville takes controversial steps to protect the Dauphin from the unholy alliance of Grimaud, Gaston and the Duke of Lorraine. His secretive tactics isolate the Queen and threaten to drive even his loyal Musketeers apart.
With the disbanded Red Guard at Grimaud’s disposal, Constance and Sylvie must hide the Dauphin in a city crawling with spies while Treville turns politician to divide the opposition.
Will diplomacy work in the battle to save France, or has Treville underestimated his enemies? The explosive outcome will shatter the Musketeers’ world.
Episode 10: ‘We Are the Garrison’
Monday 1 August 2016, 9pm
In the wake of a devastating tragedy, Grimaud declares war on the Musketeers – starting with the people they love. Still blinded by grief, will the Musketeers see him coming before it’s too late?
With the personal stakes at an all-time high, the Musketeers and their supporters must fight to defend a city on the brink of destruction against their most relentless enemy yet. The battle takes them to the depths of Paris, where Grimaud tests Athos’ resolve to the limit.
There can be no mercy in the fight to live. And the Musketeers still have plenty to live for.
> Buy the complete Season 1-2 box set on Amazon.
Watch the trailer…
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