REVIEW. Da Vinci's Demons on FOX with its boobs, buttocks and penis display, Pope Sixtus IV splashing around with a naked boy and its bisexual hero, is not for everyone.

Da Vinci's Demons starting tonight in America and next month on FOX on DStv and TopTV in South Africa has nudity and risque scenes making the show inappropriate for younger viewers and only suited for adults who choose to watch such content.

Last month I watched the first episode of Da Vinci's Demons, the new fictional drama coming to FOX and following the bisexual Leonardo Da Vinci (Tom Riley) in his 20s, when it was made available to TV critics in South Africa.

I have to warn that the somewhat-flawed drama series has nudity which includes boobs (from very early on and later), derrieres, full-on male penis and scenes such as a pope splashing around in a pool with a boy (followed by a bloody murder), and of course somewhat gratuitous sex scenes.

It was fun seeing an older Julian Bashir Alexander Siddigand the special effects of the city scape of Florence looked good.

Overall in terms of look and feel and story Da Vinci's Demons is a cross between Merlin, The Da Vinci Code, Camelot, Zero Hour, and the better Game of Thrones.

Da Vinci's Demons has an overall conspiracy theory which feels interesting and which will probably play out as an overall arch, as well as some mysticism surrounding both Leonardi Da Vinci's past and his future.

The baring of body parts makes Da Vinci's Demons come across as begging for legitimacy to be taken "seriously" as adult television drama - although, with its characters which are not complex - it isn't adult drama in the sense of great television at all.

Da Vinci's Demons is Merlin with slightly better special effects and older people; a type of The Borgias lite. Watching it, somehow that late 90s, somewhat contrived drama Relic Hunter sprang to mind.

I've played Assassins Creed 3 recently, and the show's tone feels a bit like that video game: a sprawling exotic city like Constantinople as setting (Florence here), mystical meta out-of body (back)flashes, Templars (the cult of Sons of Mithras here) and the hero having to connect with the ruler.

It will be interesting to see whether the show can develop nuance and character as it colours in a fictional version of Leonardo Da Vinci's past.