The Count of Monte Cristo

I agree with all the reviews of this excellent adaptation. I can still hear the trumpet solo in the opening bars of Roberto Grehrd's wonderfully atmospheric and dramatic music.

I will never forget the way Alan Badel (surely the most perfect Dantes)whispered "Mercedes!", and who could forget his entrance when he appeared in silhouette in the doorway on the stroke of nine o'clock - pure drama.

Can anyone who has connections with the BBC please try and find out if some or all episodes could be made available? I believe that another series (that incidentally contained music by Roberto Gerhard) is available on tape - "War in the Air", broadcast in the 50s, so maybe there is hope.

It's without frills. It's black and white. It's on TV. Set mostly on a stage. You know the story by heart. You know what each character must say and do. And yet... I could not tear myself away. The extra time allows for so much more dialog, so much more verbal sparring. So much more innuendo. The acting is superb. I'm sure there are faults. But the series was so skillfully written and acted, that I could not focus on the faults, nor remember any, if there were.

This is a very affectionate adaptation of the novel, extremely faithful to the spirit and the detail of the book. It was a high-spot in TV adaptation of the Classics, beautiful to look at, and splendidly acted. Alan Badel's performance as Edmond Dantes was really memorable.

There aren't enough superlatives to express my thoughts of this sixties' serialisation of Dumas' classic novel. It is one of my vivid memories of my teenage years having been one of BBC TV's superb Sunday teatime serials which were a staple television diet at that time - along with the "Dr Who" serials on a Saturday. With the superb Alan Badel as the ultimate 'Count', subsequent portrayals have been pale in comparison - even Gerard Depardieu in the recent French language adaptation. My only wish is that someone, somewhere, would seek out this production and give it a well-deserved rerun - all thirteen half-hour episodes, which omitted little from the novel. A truly superb and memorable production. 'They don't make 'em like this anymore' ;-((

I have been trying to get a copy of this wonderful series, after following it on the Beeb many years ago, but without success. I sympathize with the person who said that they had missed some of the episodes. This version was so true to the book and its complicated plot that it would have been difficult to follow unless one watched it in its entirety. Having seen serialized versions and movies, even the French one with Gerard Depardieu, I feel that none of them compare with this old BBC version. Many of them are not true to the original story, and certainly none of the actors have the charisma of Alan Badel. He had an amazing voice and a magnetism that was so perfectly suited to the role of Edmund Dantes.