The Great (Seasons 1–3)

The Great (2020) is a comedy-drama about the Russian court that you can watch online on iFILM. It tells how a German girl named Catherine clawed her way to becoming Catherine the Great. "An occasionally true story," as the show happily admits.

Young Sophia arrives in Russia dreaming of love and Enlightenment ideals. What she gets is a husband — Emperor Peter III, played by Nicholas Holt as petty, cruel, and forever distracted by feasts and hunts. Elle Fanning's Catherine soon realizes nobody is coming to fix things. So she decides to seize the crown herself. The palace runs on plots, betrayals, and courtiers who would sell anyone for another glass of champagne.

Creator Tony McNamara, who co-wrote The Favourite, bends history on purpose: dates shift, facts twist, but the characters stay sharp-tongued and alive. The series earned multiple Emmy nominations for its writing and lavish costumes. Stream The Great (2020) online on iFILM.