‘Masterpiece’ period drama adaptation of ‘excellent’ novel is a must-watch
The show has been hailed as a strong adaptation
A period drama TV series that audiences may have missed is streaming now and well worth a watch, after others have enjoyed a Dickens drama and another hailed a "triumph".
The ITV show is based on a beloved classic novel and many viewers have hailed this adaptation over subsequent versions.
One 10/10 review on IMDb was titled: "A masterpiece of television" and the user explained: "Everyone is of course entitled to an opinion about matters such as this, but how anyone can rate this series as anything less than a great milestone in television is, to my mind at least, quite difficult to understand."
A second wrote on the site: "One of the best productions ever put on film."
The audience member said: "It is exceptional to find something in life that improves with age."
They went on to say: "Having just completed watching the entire series I can say that it is actually better than I remembered when I first saw it over 15 years ago.
"Seldom do so many things (cast, writing, locations, costumes) come together and form a harmonious whole.
“Brideshead is a tour-de-force of the film maker's art that glows with a magical intensity all its own."
A third person titled their top-tier review: “The best mini-series since Shogun.”
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They wrote: “This is the finest series I've ever seen on television. The fact that is based upon an excellent novel is only part of the equation. The locations, the music, the acting - everything comes together so beautifully in this project.”
The user added: “Watching this series is a bit like getting lost in reading "Lord of The Rings." You like the 'place' that they take you so much, you don't want it to end.”
A fourth 10/10 review described the mini-series as an “exemplary adaptation” and explained: “It lacks action or adventure but is one of the most charming, elegiac, moving, elegant, and classy films, TV or otherwise. It is also generous with delightful humorous scenes in specific English humor that can't be faked or reproduced outside of England [sic].”
Yet another audience member hailed it as a the “best TV series ever” and elaborated: “As the cover said, this is the TV series that still stands as the benchmark for others. I could quite confidentially say it still does.
“If scale would be 1 to 100 in stead of 1 to 10 I would still give it a full 100, since this is simply the best series you can or will come across, if you like British acting (who wouldn't), the Golden Years of pre-WW2, and a moving story [sic].”
Brideshead Revisited was aired back in 1981, an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s famed 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder.
Consisting of 11 episodes, the period drama was set between the 1920s and 1940s, following Captain Charles Ryder (played by Jeremy Irons) as he reminisced about his former romances and friendship with Lord Sebastian Flyte (Anthony Andrews) and his time at the stately home of Brideshead.
Along with Irons and Andrews, Brideshead Revisited boasted an extraordinary cast including, the legendary Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud as well as Diana Quick, Simon Jones, Phoebe Nicholls, Claire Bloom, and Stéphane Audran.
Brideshead Revisited (1981) is streaming on ITVX now