Pillars of the Earth

[sittinghippo]

Hands up who's excited!!

Just hope it does justice to the novel.

ooh me!!! Haven't read the novel but I am a sucker for any thing 'period' Looks really good with a great cast. I hope it lives up to your expectations (and mine)

What time and station is it? I hardly ever watch television but have read the book and might be interested in giving it a go.

Channel 4, 9pm. Its a multi-part series, not sure how many.

LOVE the book, and have been waiting so long for the series to come to England, it was shown in America much earlier in the year.

I have my bottle of wine and box of Maltesers ready so am good to go!

Thanks. :)

Ooh, I read this book years ago, and ever since I can't look in an old church or cathedral without marveling at how they managed to build them with no cranes / modern scafolding etc.

Looking forward to the programme.

Another one looking forward to it

This has been my favourite ever novel for the last ten + years. I've kept the book and re-read it this summer ( I never reread books usually)
I bought the sequel, "World without end" in hardback, new, from a charity shop this summer for £2.50!
I'm recording it and this is why I'm mumsnetting rather than watching.
Enjoy ]]

Dreadful - even Rufus Sewell couldn't keep me watching. I keep expecting the Monty Python team to pop up

It's a bit shite like MOTD going on at 10.30.

Oh dear! I take it its not good then...

ok, this is what's annoying me:
everyone is very waif-like and a bit new age (dreadlocks, Enya-type music etc)
the women all gave birth lying on their backs and I'm not sure they all would have done
bits of it seem to be dubbed - what's that all about then?

having said that, and not having read the book, I can tell it is probably quite a good book IYSWIM.

The book was brilliant, a great read but this has no atmosphere at all.

The set looks like a set, the script is terrible and makes the actors come across totally wooden.

Nor do I appreciate the unneccesary gore. If it was meant to add realism it's backfired.

The trailer made it look rubbish - total cheese and flannel and corn all wrapped up in wooden acting. What an expensive shame.

OMG, the bit where the mum gave birth and died, then the dad left the baby with her to go to sleep with her. I am in bits, soooo upset about this.

And then he goes back to get him and he's been bloody well taken - that is terrible!

I'm far too soft these days for things like this.

Just tell me now, is there a happy ending? If not, I am going to have to walk away

I won't bother with it then as I'm an awful TV snob at the best of times. I liked the sequel better than Pillars Of The Earth -as I thought the POTF characters were v stereotypical and two-dimensional, especially the bad guy whose name I have forgotten.

O thank God. He's found the baby. Thank God.

Right, can go to bed now and not be a gibbering wreck. I'm not going to watch this and will just read the book at some point (when I am less full of hormones)

How on earth did they get such a good cast to come up with something so awful?

I could almost see the actors thinking 'Oh well, at least this will pay off my mortgage!' with some of the dialogue they had to say.

Was it tonight? I am an idiot - I thought it was tomorrow!

Glad I didn't bother then.

I'd like to know what that monk WAS feeding the baby...

Oh come on guys it wasn't THAT bad! I wasn't sure for the first half hour but then really got into it.
Don't worry pumpkins that is the most heart wrenching part of the story, it will all end up happy ever after eventually.

Katisha as a huge fan of the book I can tell you that the monk fed the baby with goats milk, he used a rag soaked in milk and let the baby suck it.

Well I will definitely be watching next installment, now that I have taken it for what it is, an adaptation I can enjoy it. It will never be as good as the book, but when are TV makes ever as good as the book??

I caught the last 10 minutes or so and it looked watchable. So should I rather read the book?

Well, I watched 'The Turn Of The Screw' and didn't think much of it but then read the book and thought even less, if that answers your question Hippo. :)

I thought it was quite good. The first half an hour was confusing & I'd have been lost if I hadn't have read the book countless times but was sucked in by the end. I thought Ellen was just how I imagined her from the book TBH.

I didn't enjoy the sequel to the book though, just seemed like it was rehashing the characters from Pillars of the Earth but with no real feeling to it.

Didn't appreciate the bit where William Hamley's mother tossed him off in the bath, though. Eeeeew and unnecessary.