Having read the book recently I was excited to see whether a visual adaptation would do it justice.
Short review: Don't bother...the book is far, far better! Too much cut/changed for no apparent reason/padded out with extra exposition ...It's a shame because I think the honest intention to do the book justice was there.
Longer review: (containing *SPOILERS*)
However, this is not the book I read (and loved). I expected that details would be omitted and sub plots rearranged but the entire tone of the book was ignored. Follett was consulted regarding the filming an apparently he approved the changes:
Some changes I can shrug off, obviously sensationalism to up the excitement and/or condense down plots, such as the introduction of incestual attraction between William and his mother, or a signet ring to help Jack trace his ancestry...Follett, 60, said he was very pleased with the screenplay for the miniseries written by John Pielmeier.
"What I liked most about the script was that the story remained strong. I was most relieved when I read it..."
"...You think you have to let your baby go, like sending your child to school, you have to put him into someone else's hands. You know you've got to do it but it worries you anyway," Follett said.
Some defy belief...such as the maiming of Jack's hand, and King Stephen's apoplectic fit.
I also find it amazing that a nation normally so prudish that women's nipples are censored on TV, apparently finds no problem with the use of the C-word being uttered by a Bishop in a monastery on Prime-time television...
The major sticking point for me was at the end of this opening part, where the Earl's daughter swears an oath before he dies in prison that she will not rest until her brother regains the earldom. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?
Except that in the book, it is her father who uses emotional blackmail to force her to swear the oath, thereby binding her in chains of honour to aiding her mollycoddled, selfish and immature brother for the better part of her life. Makes a great big difference to how sympathetically the audience perceives the character...
Most reviews I've read in the US seems to think the series was a great success, and either approve or at least do not condemn the changes...
But I don't think I've been this incensed about a literary adaptation since...oh, I don't know...Lord of the Rings, maybe??
