By Henrietta Knight

An increasing number of lavish television dramas are now even more splendidly shot and expensively cast than a Hollywood movie. The Young Pope (Sky Atlantic) must surely be one of the most sumptuous series ever made.

More Caravaggio than Coronation Street (thank the Lord), this ten-part spectacle is written and directed by Oscar-winning film director Paulo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty). Now he has turned to the small screen to tell the tale of Pius XIII aka Lenny Belardo of Brooklyn. America meets Italy, a cultural collision that delivers extraordinary results.

The first episode opens with the 40-something pontiff, played by Jude Law, in a nightmare sequence crawling over a writhing sea of babies. He proceeds to give a ground-breaking address to the St Peter’s Square crowd demanding that the Catholic church should accept gays and support women’s rights to have an abortion. Then he shouts: “We have forgotten how to masturbate.” A blatant lie.

Suddenly, Lenny wakes up and, only five minutes in, we have seen his bare bum twice. After his bizarre dream, we presume he is going to be a liberal pope, but he is quite the opposite. While he chain smokes, drinks Cherry Zero Coke for breakfast and wears Havainas flip flops, his mission is to restore the authority of the church and scupper meddling Cardinal Voiello (Silvio Orlando).

The hard line pontiff has few redeeming qualities. The papal choice of name adds him to the list of arch conservatives. His spiritual hero, Pius XI was an ardent admirer of Mussolini.

The fantastically nasty Lenny is unnecessarily rude to the kindly old Roman cook, who planned to prepare him lots of delicious Italian dishes. By the time she burst into tears, I had already decided I hated him. The Brooklyn born bully revels in demeaning any underling who bores him and has a buzzer to dismiss them from his office with their tails between their legs.

In the powerhouse performance of his life, Jude Law plays the mean man of the church with meandering menace and looks pretty damned cool in his Armani-designed robes. He's the devil in disguise. A corrosive Catholic hell-bent on fire, brimstone and striking fear into the hearts of his global flock.

Belardo installs Sister Mary, the nun who bought him up (Diane Keaton) in the Vatican and appoints her as his chief of staff. She appears in her doorway in her nightgown emblazoned with the unlikely words: "I am a virgin, but this is an old t-shirt.” She too is never without a cigarette.

A man of mystery who is rarely seen, Pope Lenny also hides his identity in the style of Banksy, JD Salinger and Daft Punk. This guy sure knows his popular culture. He bans any mechandise with his picture saying: “I do not have an image. I am no one. Only Christ exists.”

Adding to the Italian strangeness, there's a kangaroo sent as a gift that roams the Vatican’s gardens. It’s bouncing bonkers but hauntingly beautiful. On the down side, it's too slow moving and needs to pick up the pace.

It is tempting to compare The Young Pope to House Of Cards, but unlike the evil yet charismatic President Frank Underwood, it is impossible to warm to Lenny Belardo. He is a holy horror. Truly vile. Will I keep the faith and watch the entire ten episodes? I pray to God I do. Amen.