King and Conquorer - from 24 August BBC and iPlayer

[IwantToRetire]

I had heard about this and sort of didn't listen as I thought it was Netflix.

But it isn't. Its the BBC!

"A clash that defined a country, and a continent, for a thousand years. The epic story of 1066 and the brutal battle for a kingdom. Starring James Norton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024pyz

Supposedly based on verified historical facts.

I am imagining a mash up of Game of Throne and Vikings.

(Haven't seen another thread but am nominating this as a binge watch thread, rather than tv pace. If available on iPlayer.)

This is my issue with Norton too. I know he is posh IRL but somehow it feels so much like acting when he does posh. I think it's because I always expect Happy valley JN. He seemed drippy in this.

He was great in War and Peace but that was well written with a brilliant cast.

Juliet Stevenson stuck out so much in this it was painful.

I think in actual history there was about 700000 Ediths so they've had to change some female names and that's confused me when I went to check wo was who. For soemthign with so much expository dialogue, I'm still going 'Is that Edward the Confessor then?'

I was educated In Scotland so never learnt any of this history. But I think English people don't either? Just everyone knows the date 1066 and that's it. I'm not feeling especially informed yet.

I just realised there are 8 episodes of this. Can't see me lasting.

We had to have the sound waaaay up, especially at the start - could hardly make out what they were saying. Why don’t they fix these things, I nearly turned off but it seemed to get a bit better as it went on

Brilliant cast, but really, just awful. Not just the clanging language anachronisms (Europe?!), tolting horses and dirty faces but the mumbling, the darkness and the clumsy foregrounding of women by having them do man things (look how fierce she is - she can cut off a man’s hand! Women were important too! Yes, but not as mini-men you dick)

I struggled to make it to the end of the first episode. What a load of mumbling tosh.

While people speak at different volumes (I always know when one particular colleague is in...) and even an individual ranges from whispering to shouting, you'd think there should be a reference point that all broadcasters should use. I find it weird in this day and age that I have to adjust the sound between programmes on the same channel, and even more so if I change channels. I should be able to find what is my comfortable listening level on a device, and leave it there.

This is not an issue specific to K&C, but I did have to turn the volume up for it.

I can't say I noticed any issue with the sound or intelligibility of dialogue on this one. Great so far!

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is much too old to play William, but I'm not complaining at the casting. 😍

I also noticed the more accurate horse casting! 🙂 Normally they have huge beasts which would not have been available then.

Just to be momentarily nerdy , this has to do with HD. If you swap to non HD (not sure this is always possible on all shows and for everyone) suddenly you'll be able to hear. It's scam to get us all to buy the best tellys and sound bars, I tell you!

Often dialogue is hard to hear and then suddenly THE SCORE IS REALLY LOUD. Infuriating.

A recent example of really poor sound levels and ,mixing is The Gone - certain characters with a different timbre were inaudible (Richter, looking at you...) and the music was far louder. Often this is why we say men are mumbling and yet we could all hear Juliet Stevenson.

We put subtitles on by default now, which I wish I didn't have to. DH drives me mad though because then he turns the volume down and my ears do not like this as they start tryign to hear.

Yes, i clocked some very pretty roof tiles and thought that doesn't seem right!!

It's almost in the camp of its so bad it's good, for me! Watching for the cast.

I don't think it is to do with HD on my TV...

Same. Gave up halfway through episode one.

Watched it on Ultra HD through iplayer and the volume was over double what it usually is to have it at reasonable volume to hear dialogue. Meant horses galloping was very loud mind

Can you watch non HD to experiment? I do this with loads of programmes and the difference is astonishing.

i admit we haven't watched it, it sounded like the sort of drama where the middle of Eastern Europe substitutes for the battle field at Battle (Hastings).
but the Guardian review is one of the funniest things I've read in a long while, a proper comic touch!

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/aug/24/king-and-conqueror-review-james-norton-and-nikolaj-coster-waldau-fight-the-battle-of-hastings?utm_term=68abe345e5025b908710bd19fe17871b&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email

Isn’t it obvious he’s sporting that tache so we all aren’t constantly seeing Jamie Lannister. ( and Rng on the makers it seems he did have one at some point )

Im still seeing Harold as a priest. He could have benefited from dying his hair or something

Here’s some images of William with beards. The coin is the most relevant

the horses look very authentic, little shaggy ponies rather than glossy steeds,

The horses in the Bayeux tapestry don't look like little shaggy ponies.

The men in the tapestry are riding with the long stirrup, so their legs would hang down more, but the horses look like horses.

I don't think my TV does HD.

Right in which case you are possibly being forced to watch an HD programme with a TV that doesn't support it. I notice this when old films are on BBC2. No matter what you do , you can't get it loud enough.

What a disappointment.

Talk about trash tv.

The irritating background music.

The really terrible script. One dimensional characters already set in cliched architypes.

Had I known it was written by someone who writes for Guy Ritchie I wouldn't have bothered.

The portrayal of Edward was just stupid, school boy nonsense.

Some of the sets were appalling.

Is there not a quality monitor for the BBC1 prime site of 9pm on a sunday?!

And yes the sound was just ridiculous.

I am used to films made for cinema having really loud music and background noise, and the spoken word so quiet it is absurd.

This was made for tv.

What sound system illiterate was allowed to pass this off.

It always amazes me that actors dont have a clause in their contract that the final production must ensure their voice can be heard. There they are, acting their little socks off, and no one is able to hear it, and are reading sub titles.

I think I would have preferred a documentary.

It always amazes me that actors dont have a clause in their contract that the final production must ensure their voice can be heard.

But also, are actors trained to speak properly these days? Old school actors knew how to use their voices and one never had any trouble hearing them.

That isn't the problem.

They way the audio tracked is record muffles their voices, and prioritises background sounds, and worse still pointless music.

Its a well known industry problem.

At a time that technoligy is meant to be more advanced it is absurd that old tv which only used boom mikes could get a balance between back ground noise and the spoken word.

The papers today are full of people who are complaining about how terrible this series is for this reason.

And as there are many James Norton fans on this thread, has he in any series been accused on mumbling?

Its just some idiot techie (probably aged 12) thinking noise is more important that words.

And given that unlike boom mikes the backgrounds sounds and the voices are probably recorded on diffent tapes or discs or whatever, so there is also the element that whoever does the final mix decides to get the balance so badly wrong.

Maybe as licence payers we should demand a remix.

Admittedly there is a well known film director who aims to do this. Drown out voices with special effects. And some people pay to go and see his films. And says anyone who goes to his films know that so shouldn't complain.

But this is the BBC. The home of "broadcasting" and they cant even mix the sound level properly.

If it was music that featured a singer you wouldn't expect the singer to have their vocal track blasted out by the backing musicians.

Dh started watching this whilst I read the review linked below. The music was annoying and apart from always knowing when the battle was ( because 1066 is easy to remember) I don’t know anything about this period of time. I know that the tapestry is being gifted for a while to the Uk , but not sure when. I would like to see that , but depends where it’s going to be put.
The horses did look a bit small.
I like Edward Norton , but I think I need to watch the episode again as wasn’t paying attention.

James Norton! Edward Norton would be amusing casting!

Yup. It's all in the sound recording and mixing. But also in the fact that the lavish budgets lead to cinema sound levels and tech where we are watching on our wee boxes.

James Norton does mumble a bit actually . Juliet Stevenson definitely does not.