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Doctor Thorne (2016)
Shoddy substandard fodder for the costume drama junkies
Doctor Thorne represents a new nadir in British televisual period drama, notwithstanding Fellowes' woeful track record. Resolutely "broad" pablum crudely targeting the lucrative historical nostalgia market in the U.S., this risibly perfunctory effort is wholly devoid of any artistic merit whatsoever. There is without doubt a rich seam of Trollope material tailor made for TV adaptation and earlier BBC efforts such as He Knew he was Right (2004) and The Way we Live Now (2001) were well scripted, articulate examples of such.
Fellowes adopts his usual cynical lowest common denominator approach with this particular effort which consequently renders the source material prosaically banal beyond belief. A woeful excuse for a script that would be considered too unsubtle even for pantomime, tired, rote acting from many otherwise capable professionals and grotesquely gauche and shallow character definition, represent just the high points of this monstrosity. Vacuous posturing masquerading as authentic drama and failing miserably.
The Musketeers (2014)
Appalling!
Predictably dreadful adaptation of Dumas' much covered classic. This truly is cynical, lowest common denominator pablum with which to spoonfeed infantilised palettes rendered insensate by a prolonged diet of reality TV pap, tawdry soap operas and trite heritage "dramas". There is a depressing absence of virtually every element that constitutes vital drama, from crude, cardboard cut-out caricatures, risible dialogue, perfunctory "acting", transparently wooden scripting; it almost qualifies as a bone fide parody. The BBC has shown that it perfectly capable of making quality historical drama (Garrow's Law, City of Vice, Lilies, Parade's End, etc) yet it remains obsessed with audience ratings at all costs. Artistic integrity and creative endeavour have become simply inconvenient baggage that are wholly subservient to commercial imperatives. Tragically inevitable but no less depressing regardless. .