I don't agree on the poor performance, all of characters are quite OK, IMHO. Including Helen Mirren. And about the so-said debauchery and atmosphere of soap-opera peppered with foul language, depicted here - I think that was a defining trait of the Tsarist court at that time, but that's unusual for, and bit of hard to digest by the anglo-saxon viewers who gave low reviews.
Review of Catherine the Great
