An adaptation of Kate Mosse's bestseller and one of a rash of swords and sorcery epics around. Presumably TV and film producers spotted that Harry Potter was equally popular with adults and decided to make adultified (i.e. added sex, violence and swearing) versions so that grown-ups needn't be ashamed of watching and could be more satisfied to boot. Except... there's a patina of childish mush about most of them that leaves us cold. Maybe they're just not our cup of tea, and if teenagers come to this and are inspired to read about real history, or classics like the Tolkiens etc. great. Those older should know better, though, surely, than to passively imbibe the likes of everything from 'The Tudors' to 'Game of Thrones' (OK, one is pure fantasy, the other is... pure fantasy, but - we'll stop there) and think them entertaining?
We did try with this one, truly we did, but the dialogue was turgid, the wigs were bad and the clothes seemingly borrowed from 'Robin Hood', 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Merlin'. The off-switch beckoned. Maybe it would have fared better on a night with the full complement of hours, rather than the hour-stealing commencement of British Summertime (whatever and whenever that proves to be) but that's damning with the faintest praise. We're sure fans of any of the programmes mentioned above will find it passable at least, but we couldn't have cared less whether present and past collided or whether they missed each other by miles.
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