Parade's End

The first thing about this series is that the photography and production design is sumptuous and stunning. Even if the story and characters were of no interest, the visual appeal of this is memorable.

The only strange thing in this aspect of the production is that the music in scenes for the parties is jazz - 1920s sounding jazz. It is very odd and historically inaccurate for the social status of the story as jazz entered England in 1919, apparently.

As to the core of it, well, it is an abbreviated working of a complex set of novels written in a certain way and Stoppard has done well with the time limits etc of the medium. It works but one is always aware of what is being abridged to make it fit.

Cumberbatch is the most intense, internal English leading man in a long while and seems to have borrowed Jeremy Irons's mandible crunching pensiveness. But he is absolutely right here.

Hall as Sylvia Tietjens is ravishing and confused in right order. Her performance is entitled' and arrogant, though it might be a bit too modern in its overtness.

Highly recommended.

I had mixed feelings when I started watching the BBC drama. Having read some comments I had some fears. One of them was that I expected the series to be some kind of copy-paste of Downton Abbey. It wasn't. It is more subtle, evolves more slowly and has an almost inaudible air of pain and suffering. I couldn't help but compare it to Maughem's "The Painted Veil" that tells the story of a couple - a flippant wife of a doctor who is intellectually superior to her but too noble and and at the same time too proud to divorce her for betrayal. This story might seem similar however it has a greater depth. It's not only a man's parade trying to stand for what he truly believes in and finding himself abandoned by life and failing as a man. It's a vivid portrayal of virtues that are believed to be outdated but are in fact so modern and thoroughly relevant to today. And that's what salvages these series from being just another costume drama.

What surprised me most about the drama was Benedict Cumberbatch's performance. He has an incredible acting prowess to play roles that are so different from him. There is no Benedict neither in Sherlock nor in Mr Tiejens. He completely vanishes within the characters he plays altering his movements, speaking, laughing, joking etc. It's interesting to note what Benedict said speaking about the role "Christopher has many admirable qualities I'd like to siphon off into my life."

I believe Mr Tiejens is one of Benedict's best roles. He uses his voice like an instrument tuning it sometimes so deep and strong and sometimes subtle and gentle. It's an astonishing performance that definitely transcends TV dramas.

Not since A Dance to the Music of Time has such a stellar cast been allied to such an artful and unusual script.

Ford Madox Ford is not a popular novelist. His work often approaches its subjects on an elliptical curve, his principal characters are seldom in the mainstream of society, forming odd relationships, requiring his audience to assimilate their understanding of them over the course of a whole work rather than categorise from their experience (or jump to conclusions based on genre). This explains why we don't see his work adapted very often. Or even at all.

Susanna White and Tom Stoppard have both grasped the nettle of demonstrating this sideways approach, though I'm not sure quite so many kaleidoscopic shots were necessary to drive the point home. Benedict Cumberbatch joins in, underlining his character's isolation with some rather off-putting facial gestures. Ronald Hines played Tietjens in the now lost 1960's adaptation and casting to type may have worked better than struggling with toning down the matinée idol status Cumberbatch has acquired since hitting Sherlock Holmes out of the park. Maybe if he and Stephen Graham had swapped roles the other characters might have found it easier to deal with Tietjens' self-enforced oddity but that may have impaired Ford's central point, beautifully delivered as the the climax to Episode 4.

But acting idiosyncrasies cannot mask the quality of the fabulous script or the overall adaptation which has a towering performance from Rebecca Hall and glittering additions from Rufus Sewell, Rupert Everett, Miranda Richardson, Roger Allam, Ann-Marie Duff and beautiful, note-perfect newcomer Adele Clemens.

With so much glossy soap about, it is extremely refreshing to have high quality, thought-provoking, challenging drama this good whatever the lead chooses to do with his jaw muscles.

A keeper.

I don't like watching series or movies based on the wars but I watched this because of Benedict Cumberbatch and I have fallen in love with this series. I have not read the novels or have any idea about the writer but if the books are even half as good as the TV adaptation, they must be a must- read. Christopher Teijens is a brilliant, very committed and decent gentleman. He has a wife who cheats on him and he is love with a girl. At the backdrop is the world war 1. If you are looking for a story, there is not much of it but the true star of the show is the direction, cinematography, amazingly poetic dialogues and unblemished acting by the whole cast. The music compliments the settings and the backdrop very well. Benedict Cumberbatch has shown the world how talented he is. Flawless acting, deep emotions and superb voice modulations. Rebecca Hall and Adelaide Clemens have made the characters of Sylvia and valentine unforgettable.

Don't watch this if you are a fan of fast paced action. This is for patient, connoisseurs of literature and romantics. Watch it for intelligent viewership.

Parade's End is Tom Stoppard's new adaption of Ford Madox Ford's First World War novel. One knew it was going to be good as soon as one noticed that the novelist's first and last name were the same – a sure sign of a serious and thoughtful writer.

The series stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Christopher Tietjens – a tightly wound, deeply honourable English gentlemen with an annoying penchant for not having sex with beautiful women who want to have sex with him. They pursue him, they flirt with him, they sometimes get down on their knees and beg him, but old Christopher doesn't want to know. He is far too busy being tightly wound and deeply honourable.

Directly by Susannah White, Parade's End is BBC costume drama at its most costumy, with plenty of expensive tweed, pinched in waistlines, and heaving powdered cleavage.

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Cumberbatch must have watched many thousands of hours of Edward Fox movies, as he seems to have perfectly mastered Fox's uniquely contorted lower facial expression – that of pressing one's lips together and using one's cheek muscles to somehow force one's down-turned mouth painfully southwards towards the chin.

Rebecca Hall, (daughter of Sir Peter) plays Tietjens' beautiful but sex-starved socialite wife, who on one occasion strips naked in front of her husband, only to be told that he can't bear to turn away from the wall and look at her. On another occasion the poor woman is so desperate for intercourse that she jumps into a taxi in London, drives hundreds of miles to where he is fighting in France, and practically throws herself on top of him in the trenches. Meanwhile, Christopher's sagging mouth slides further and further down his face as he daydreams about his beautiful suffragette admirer Valentine (Adelaide Clemens), and what it might be like to not have sex with her again when he returns home to Blighty.

Clearly Parade's End is intelligent, beautifully crafted drama, without the TV soap-like qualities of the more mainstream Downton Abbey, and Benedict Cumberbatch is destined to become one of our finest serious actors. That is, of course, if he manages to avoid being cast as Doctor Who.