Lazerblade said:
I have just begun to watch this series and I like it very much. How accurate is it? The uniforms are wonderful. I have only watched five parts so far.
I am sorry but I am sure this series has been discussed already.
Hi Paul--I've been recommending this series for years. It only came out in North America last year I believe, but I bought a region-free DVD player so I could get it when it came out in the UK in 2004!
As it is a costume drama there are probably liberties taken with dialog, and some of the secondary characters are fictional or at least fictionalized. Most of the story however is pretty close, this is how the various figures are remembered.
Most of the actors do a very good job. I actually prefer Charles Kay in this to Michael Jayston (
Nicholas and Alexandra) as Czar Nicholas II.
Patrick Stewart is great as Lenin. About the only casting that doesn't work for me is Colin Baker as Crown Prince Willie (but I guess I think of him as
Doctor Who).
Unlike many other costume dramas about these characters, this also does a very good job of focusing on the events that lead their nations to ruin. And while I enjoyed HBO's
Rome and have started to watch Showtime's
The Tudors, I feel these end up being a little heavy on the T&A at times. With the Romans that's to be expected, and probably the same for England's Henry VIII. But I don't think the monarchs in the 19th century would be so open about sex. So even if
Fall of Eagles were made today I would suspect it would be about the same.
