Swords, guns, men clad in leather and more cleavage in half an hour than your average BBC drama. The Musketeers had all the potential to be exciting and sexy. However, with stilted scripts, unconvincing performances and about as much sexual tension as Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, the drama failed to impress.
The 10-episode BBC adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers began with a James Bond style teaser before the titles, where one character is comically blown to pieces. Keeping the traditional early 17th Century Parisian setting, the Musketeers established a dark, wet and grimy medieval backdrop for the good vs evil plot that materialized fairly quickly. With an overly villainous adviser to the king and the brazen (gambling, drinking and fighting) Musketeers, it was the female characters that stirred up a sense of intrigue and kept the plot moving along.
Having had high hopes for the drama, with Luke Pasqualino from Skins playing d’Artangnan, however the majority of the acting left much to be desired. Within the first 10 minutes my flat-mate had already opted to watch a program about Mammoth, rather than endure any more of the thrusting sword fights and stiff acting.
Although it is nothing close to exceptional TV, the writer-director Adrian Hodges does create a light-hearted and cheesy drama that makes for easy watching, if there really isn’t anything else on.
Watch The Musketeers, Sunday on BBC1 at 9pm or on BBC iplayer now.
Emma Russell
Photo: Property of bbc.co.uk