This review is based solely on the first episode. From what I've seen, I will not be investing more time in subsequent episodes.
I had high expectations because this is BBC after all, but in this case the result is well below par. Nothing excels, everything is at best average, and the overall concoction is simply a mess.
Plot: I suppose we can fault Ms. Gregory for many of the oddities in the plot lines, but they are there nonetheless. Gratuitous magic/witchcraft which is clearly incongruous with what purports to be a historical drama, inexplicable changes in characters' behavior or attitudes, etc.
Direction: way too many stock scenes and gimmicks (children playing gaily while a threatening person is approaching, virtually all the courtship scenes, the court receiving the arrival of the new queen).
Production: locations all seemed wrong, and the credits explained why--it was filmed in Flanders. Buildings don't look English, the trees and fields don't look English, and then the costumes and armor all are not quite realistic. Close, but no cigar. And an unusually high number of anachronistic elements (e.g., woman's dress with what appeared to be a zipper in the back?).
Acting: everyone seemed to be forced into their roles, no one really fit well. The new queen's mother was perhaps the best, it's a role she's played before, but the heroine/protagonist is not quite convincing in this crucial episode. She has a tough job, making us believe that she can fall in love with the man who had killed her husband (at least indirectly, in battle), but she can't pull it off.
Overall, it looks/feels much more like an American production trying unsuccessfully to reach BBC standards, than genuine BBC. The result is poor indeed and not worthy of your time.
I had high expectations because this is BBC after all, but in this case the result is well below par. Nothing excels, everything is at best average, and the overall concoction is simply a mess.
Plot: I suppose we can fault Ms. Gregory for many of the oddities in the plot lines, but they are there nonetheless. Gratuitous magic/witchcraft which is clearly incongruous with what purports to be a historical drama, inexplicable changes in characters' behavior or attitudes, etc.
Direction: way too many stock scenes and gimmicks (children playing gaily while a threatening person is approaching, virtually all the courtship scenes, the court receiving the arrival of the new queen).
Production: locations all seemed wrong, and the credits explained why--it was filmed in Flanders. Buildings don't look English, the trees and fields don't look English, and then the costumes and armor all are not quite realistic. Close, but no cigar. And an unusually high number of anachronistic elements (e.g., woman's dress with what appeared to be a zipper in the back?).
Acting: everyone seemed to be forced into their roles, no one really fit well. The new queen's mother was perhaps the best, it's a role she's played before, but the heroine/protagonist is not quite convincing in this crucial episode. She has a tough job, making us believe that she can fall in love with the man who had killed her husband (at least indirectly, in battle), but she can't pull it off.
Overall, it looks/feels much more like an American production trying unsuccessfully to reach BBC standards, than genuine BBC. The result is poor indeed and not worthy of your time.