I suspect that’s it. And the outdoor camera work isn’t smooth at all. Did the steadi-cam exist in 1975?
I find this sort of thing true of most of the classic British miniseries: The walls of 165 Eaton Place in Upstairs, Downstairs look as flimsy as the stage set they truly are; the handful of sets used for I, Claudius are even more stagey; except for the costumes, the original Forsyte Saga has production values similar to contemporary soap operas in modern dress (and when there’s a very quiet scene, you can hear the stage crew moving around). But they had writers and actors that carried the stories so well that you don’t really notice the sets, or at least don’t care much when you do.
I like it because of the historical backdrop. the production values seem high. Everything about it is leagues above any reality show. Good scenery, antique everything. What’s not to like.
What’s not to like? The writing.
I grew up on British costume dramas presented on Masterpiece Theatre. Yes, production values were sketchy–but we watched those shows on little boxy TV’s, not HD screens.
Parade’s End was excellent–intelligent dialog, great performances & sumptuous backgrounds. But it was “too clever” for the usual Daily Mail commenter. Anyway, being based on a series of novels, those 5 hours are all we’ll get. I have a region-free DVD player; the show will appear on HBO next year…
I think the comments by Magiver and Bridget Burke sum this up perfectly. That is, what is your reference point? If you compare it to the all time best TV ever it falls short. If you compare it to the bulk of new content series programming on TV it is much better than the competition.
For me, the criteria is if I enjoy that 60 minutes and I do. Popular culture can never be over or under rated.
I loved I, Claudius, when I saw it back in 1995 or so. Recently, when it was on TV again, I found it too stagey and “teleplay”-ish. It was hard to watch.
“What is it, Sebastian? I’m arranging matches.”
snerk
Watched the first 2 episodes and gave up. Just didn’t do anything for me.
I did like Upstairs, Downstairs back in the day, but couldn’t get into the new version.
I’ll admit I wasn’t impressed. It seemed too much of a soap opera to me - villains making plots and such. I prefer my drama to have real people not stereotypes of good and evil - more The Sopranos and less Dallas.