Epic Poem Beowulf Being Adapted For 13 Part TV Series
December 20, 2014 by brennon
Not exactly anything to do with wargaming but news has popped up during the week that Beowulf, the epic poem of Grendel slaying and Dragon butchery, will be heading to ITV as a thirteen part TV series.
The series will be made by help from minds being Primeval (not holding out much hope there), Wallander (hope is returning) and Strike Back (feeling a bit better now). However, for the uninitiated, this is still probably one of the worst channels on British TV so don't be too excited just yet.
The return of Beowulf as a TV series is attributed to the success of shows like Game of Thrones making Fantasy acceptable on TV again. I just hope they do a good job of it.
If you're looking for a good version of Beowulf, while not very faithful to the original poem, then watch Beowulf & Grendel. It's got Gerard Butler in it being very bad ass and no CGI Ray Winstone sending us into the Uncanny Valley.
Would you watch it?
“one of the worst channels on British TV”
Probably difficult to argue against but perhaps a bit harsh. It doesn’t mean they’ve never produced good tv, although when they have it’s usually in field of crime drama. Endevour and the feature length episodes of Miss Marple and Poirot I’ve always found really watchable.
Outside of live sporting events, I don’t think I ever voluntarily watch anything on ITV. Even then, if I can watch the same event on another channel I will. The missus does watch ITV dramas and the occasional soap so I do get to experience them occasionally. In summary, I agree with Ben’s assessment of the channel, and I doubt I’ll be watching this.
Agreed all those adverts are a complete pain when your trying to immerse yourself in a program. If there is something to see on itv it’s best to watch it on line to avoid them.
As noted below you’ve missed out on some first rate crime drama then. Can’t say I have high hopes for the new series, but I’ll watch it before I judge……
One of the only shows of late from them I’ve enjoyed was Whitechapel and that got a little bit weird after the first series – shame as it had a lot of promise and was genuinely creepy.
But, I stand by my assessment – pretty dire channel for the most part.
BoW Ben
Poiriot and Foyles War weren’t too shabby either
Oh and the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes
Blimey, I’d forgotten about those! Sherlock Holmes was definitely one of my favourites shows at the time (probably still is). There wasn’t a bad episode of Foyles War either.
The thing which fills me with doubt is that they used the “F” word … Fantasy.
If they’re going down the line of Beowulf being a fantasy adventure then it will almost certainly be awful, because 99% of fantasy is awful. It’s just my opinion, but Beowulf should be treated as a literary adaptation, with total respect for the source and the culture which produced it. Beowulf is essentially the Shakespeare of the Dark Ages.
The letters I, T and V don’t inspire much hope either, but it could be worse. It could be Peter Jackson 😉
Oh dear The fact that it will be 13 episodes doesn’t sound promising Recent shows like Merlin with young boy band lookeelikees running around if barely disguised gear recently bought from the high street was how my last TV got broken, never to be replaced Hope I am wrong but past experience doesn’t fill one with confidence Think I will stick to the original with help from translators, and my own imagination Beowulf has been special since Mrs. Walker told the tale to us 7 and 8 yo in Class 7 Bless that teacher. FWIW she also told us the… Read more »
I remember when I went into High School being told about Beowulf and going out a finding myself a copy to read. Love the story and really hope this does the epic justice.
When I first saw this a few days ago I was Oh my God (s) !
But thinking further its nothing that hasnt been done before with some success . For example The Forbidden Planet is a pretty good version of the The Tempest
I shall hold off any thoughts about it now until I see an episode
The Forbidden Planet was a resetting of The Tempest which is not quite the same imho
But we won’t know util the first episode/trailer as you say.
When I first read he blurb I read it that they were turning into a Western…Should read things properly I guess
Now there’s a thought!
You never know it still might come to that lol
Step away from the epic saga ITV.
I think its actually Starz that are making it with cooperation with ITV
Promise there since Starz ain’t too bad at all.
I just hope they don’t screw it up like the BBC have with Merlin, Atlantis, Robin Hood and The Three Musketeers. In an effort to “make it relevant to a modern audience” they messed around with those myths, legends and stories to the point that they don’t resemble them as we were told about them in school or read about later for ourselves.
My thoughts exactly.
The BBC should be ashamed of those atrocities.
I didn’t mind Merlin and The Musketeers – thought they were pretty good (apart from the ending to Merlin which was such a let down).
Nothing destroys epic literature and poetry like commercial television. Take all the production money, make books, and hand them out at schools.
Living here in Canada , I’ll probably get to see it a year or so after it’s UK debut so I’ll know all about it’s high and low points . But I did like Primevel enough to order the all dvds out of the UK well before they were released locally .