The great is a satirical, comedic drama based on the occasional historical fact about the rise of catherine the great from outsider to the longest reigning female ruler in russia's history. An idealistic romantic young girl, she arrives from prussia for an arranged marriage to the mercurial emperor peter hoping for love and sunshine, and finds instead a dangerous, depraved, backward world that she resolves to change.all she has to do is kill her husband, beat the church, baffle the military and get the court onside. The series stars elle fanning as catherine, nicholas hoult, phoebe fox, adam godley, gwilym lee, charity wakefield, douglas hodge, belinda bromilow and sacha dhawan.featuresbold and the brash inside the greatpalatial panache the style of the greatgag reel