This is the reason why I love British TV so much. Who else dares to take a complex, demanding book and make a complex, demanding series of it? There is no concession here to change the story in order to make it easier to understand, no letting out some of the characters, no letting out some of the issues (e.g. Catholicism), no letting out Evelyn Waugh's wonderful narrative passages
There is supposed to be a law when making a literary adaptation: do not use voice-overs, unless you want to bore the audience to tears. Brideshead Revisited' made me see that, when done well, voice-overs can be wonderful (especially when Jeremy Irons does the narration). Almost everything in the book was conveyed to the screen, including the most important aspect: the mood. This is how England in the 1920-30-40s must have been. This series was shot in the 1980s but you could never tell, it perfectly captures the costumes, the manners, the hairstyles and even the pace of a world that was less hectic than ours. I confess that it did take me some chapters to start loving it. For all people whose native language is not English, it is not easy to follow the dialogues (maybe the DVDs are better, but the sound in the videos is appalling). Therefore I recommend reading the book before or while watching this, or so much of the narration and the witty dialogue gets lost. All actors were great, but I would like to defend two that don't seem to be very appreciated: Diana Quick as Julia and Simon Jones as Bridey. The first gets better and better as the series go on, and she is perfect as the 30-something, jaded, bored wife. Some people don't seem to like her scene at the fountain. I wonder if they know how a fit of hysteria looks like in real life. It is not pretty to look at. You cannot act like a hysterical woman in a dignified way. Bridey seemed to come straight out of the book, even regarding his `Aztec' features. I think he is one of the most difficult characters to play and Simon Jones was flawless. One last comment: the music by Geoffrey Burgon is mesmerizing. (P.S.: I don't understand the previous review. I don't want to offend, but why re-read a book that you were forced to read at high-school and then watch an 11-hour long series just to confirm your opinion that you hate it?? And regarding `Waugh's WAY overdone "look at how smart I am" vocabulary': it is called literature and some of us happen to like it. I don't understand the adjective `loquacious' either: most trashy best-sellers nowadays are much longer than my 331 page long edition of BR, and compared to the richness of Waugh's prose they are just pathetic, void efforts).
Review of Brideshead Revisited
