allencoleman46 My wife was reading the book, Brideshead Revisited, for her book club and wanted to simultaneously watch the Jeremy Irons television mini- series. Having seen the 2008 movie, we were both interested based on the previously seen movie and our generally positive opinion of the work of Jeremy Irons. While my wife's opinion is not as negative as mine, I can say that this is the most boring program through which I have sat one-third of the full length. I could not make it any further. It seemed as if a quarter of the story was told in narrative instead of acted out. In addition to the boredom, the introductory music for each episode was terrible.

n-mo The reviewers who have given positive feedback for this series have done quite well and I have little to add. Sadly, there was one review that seemed to miss the point, and I would like to address this:"We can suppose that Lord Marchmain pretended to convert to comfort his family. There is no such excuse for Charles, who has seen the damage that Catholicism did to the whole family."Wrong. It was the shirking of religious principle that tore apart the family. Lord Marchmain left Catholicism and thought he had license to leave his wife, so he abandoned his children to a confused, fatherless upbringing. Had he remained true to his sacramental vow to stay, "for better or for worse," by his wife's side, the family would never have been so dysfunctional.As for the vague homo-eroticism in the first few episodes, many young men at Oxford back in the day did go through such phases and often they were in fact merely PHASES. Evelyn Waugh himself apparently did.

TheLittleSongbird I am a huge fan of the book, and have been for the longest time. The book has a very poignant story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence, but I love also about the book are its rich memorable characters, memorable settings and thoughtful dialogue. This 1981 mini-series is just sublime and one of the best mini-series there is. I also think anyone who hasn't yet seen the 2008 film with Ben Whishaw, Greta Scacchi and Matthew Goode and are a fan of the book as well should think of avoiding it, as it doesn't do any justice to this wonderful story and has several disappointments on its own terms.The mini-series of Brideshead Revisited does however do justice to the book, as it is remarkably faithful in spirit and in the details. But what makes the mini-series so extra good is how amazing it is on its own terms as well. For one thing, Brideshead Revisited looks exquisite still. You can never go wrong with picturesque settings, beautiful scenery, costumes that stick remarkably well to the period and skillful photography, lighting and editing, and as far as I'm concerned Brideshead Revisited succeeds in every single one of those areas. Geoffrey Burgen's background scoring is melodious and memorable, if careful not to intrude too much at pivotal points.The mini-series' writing is also to be commended. There is a very rich and faithful script, that is thoughtful, intelligent, eloquent, amusing and poignant. Ryder's narration and delivery especially is mesmerising. The way the characters are written impresses too, Sebastian is not too effete too soon and none of the other characters feel sketched over either. The story is still the compelling and poignant story that made me fall in love with the book, it is also very well paced with seldom a dull moment and the themes that form the story are still intact.The acting is truly excellent. Overall, Diana Quick is the weakest of the three leads. Not that she is bad, far from it as she is very compelling and moving in the later episodes, it's just she is not quite ideal at first in terms of looks and age. Anthony Andrews is much better though, he is the epitome of innocence and the destruction of it, and Sebastian as I have said already is not made too effete too quickly which was just one of many mistake that was made in the 2008 film. Roger Milner does very well with a very well-explored character and is very dashing. Pheobe Nicholls is both disarming and charming, and Nicholas Grace is suitably venomous, theatrical and snake-like. John Gielgud is a real scene-stealer too, while Laurence Olivier and Claire Bloom especially play their characters perfectly and faithfully. Jeremy Irons gives my personal favourite performance of this splendid cast, his narration, delivery and portrayal of Charles Ryder is simply masterly.All in all, a real jewel of a series and a must watch for fans of the book, period dramas or any of these fine actors that play their parts so amazingly here. 10/10, though I would give it an 11 or higher if I were allowed. Bethany Cox

TheJiveMaster In 1979, Granada Television embarked on an epic adventure of their own. They decided to produce lavish dramas with no expense spared to sway the IBA to extend their franchise for a further 10 years. Brideshead Revisited was one drama to be produced at the time. Granada commissioned John Mortimer to adapt Evelyn Waugh's novel of the 1920's for the small screen. The resulting screenplay was a six hour series and filming commenced in 1979.During filming, a technicians strike at ITV suspended all activity. At this stage, Granada felt that too much had been missed out of the book and asked Mortimer to rewrite his screenplay with filming starting from scratch after the strike had ended. The result is a laboured, overly long adaptation of a great piece of fiction. Mortimer adapted the book literally creating an episode per chapter. This amounted to over 13 hours of television in eleven episodes. It is said that it is quicker to read the book than watch the resulting series.The series starts well. The early episodes showing the development of the friendship between Charles and Sebastian as they meet at Oxford and develop a close bond are well acted and portrayed. The issue of the level of love between the two characters is skilfully handled as like in the book, we never quite know how far their love extends. It is later that the drama becomes a lot more laboured. In later episodes Sebastian is exiled leaving Charles to develop his friendship with the rest of the Flyte family. At this stage, it would have been far better to condense a number of chapters into each episode. Instead we are subjected to laboured acting as the actors introduce large pauses into their lines probably in an attempt to spin out the length of each episode.