Pillars of the earth

Ken Follett wrote an epic 1,400-page historical novel about the construction of a medieval cathedral. Applauded by avid page-turners, The Pillars of the Earth was a global best-seller. An experienced American TV adapter and former theatre dramatist (still best known for his first play, Agnes of God), John Pielmeier, was given the task of re-working the saga into an eight-episode 7-hour US$40-million TV drama series funded by German and Canadian companies and the production house of the UK's Scott brothers (Ridley and Tony). Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, the son of a Croatian director and a long-time assistant director with Steven Spielberg, directed the whole series on location, mainly in Hungary.

Ian McShane (Deadwood's evil boss) plays evil Waleran Bigod, one centrifugal character in the tale of 12th-Century English monarchy, rebellions and passions. This was the period, apparently called the "Anarchy", when King Stephen ruled in Winchester, Maud and her brother waged the usual oxymoronic "civil" war, and prelates, priors and nobles battled for land and regional power. Out of this chaos, King Henry I emerged.

Follett's saga incorporated the famed tale of St Thomas a Becket's murder; the TV series omits it to save time for the TV-audience-friendlier romantic liaisons between Follett's group of fictional figures. Oddly, it introduces a subplot that Follett didn't think of: the incestuous relationship between the leading lady of evil and her weak-spined cutely-bearded son. Follett presumably approved, because he happily plays along with the project by taking a cameo role as a merchant. The screenwriter is also credited in the lead titles as an actor (as "Cuthbert", whose name wasn't announced during the bits of the first 3 episodes during which I paid much attention).

I stopped watching it after 3 episodes, wishing not to waste four more hours of my life on an old-fashioned pseudo-historical epic, the sort that film-makers still produce for children's TV (without incest and the series' other titillations). The urban crowd and battle scenes are worthily TV-spectacular in the usual ways (hand-held and crane cameras), and the director (and his editing team) probably learned expertise in that area while working for Spielberg.

His handling of scenes with dialogue and close-ups is far less fluent and visually interesting. The characters are wooden, their lines flat, and the cuts from one hammy facial expression to another are almost laughable. Although the tale is that of olde England, some poor Irish and Welsh accents serve only to distract viewers from listening too carefully to the banal dialogue.

Apart from McShane, who glowers in his stylish manner, other competent British actors are also demeaned, being moved insensitively from one prompt spot to the next, in period settings where carpenters, costumiers, stonemasons and lighting engineers worked well to make the series look more credible than it sounds.