Versailles (2008)

"Versailles" is the lavish period drama that traded stuffy history-lesson energy for palace intrigue, court seduction, and the messy ambitions swirling around the young Louis XIV. Amid the scheming nobles and gilded corridors, Daphne Patakia brings a raw physicality to her role, and the show doesn't shy away from the era's carnal politics. Two scenes on the site capture her baring skin with the kind of unguarded intensity that fits the series' appetite for excess. It's costume drama with its corset laces loosened, and Patakia's contribution is a big reason why.