Tutankhamun

Lots of the other reviews here are quite critical of this show for some of its liberties with the details to the point of one criticising the colour of the stone!!

Not being someone who intimately knows about this subject I wont pretend to question their reasons for so much hate but I will say that I found it both interesting and entertaining as did my 10 year old son who is very excited to see the final episode when it airs.

I found the acting acceptable, but not exceptional, I have certainly seen far worse in some other recent prime time shows. I think the show hit the balance between the history lesson and entertainment so that all ages could be drawn into the story and learn something in the process.

Isn't that the sign of a good show? No hate here, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this.

The harshest reviews here have been by people criticizing the series historical inaccuracies, but all I know about the discovery of King Tut's tomb I know from a little light reading after watching the series, so I really don't care if there were no Rolls Royce's in Egypt at the time.

But purely as a historical drama, the series isn't especially well constructed. I don't mind the romance between Carter and Lady Evelyn because it most likely never happened but rather because it overshadows the actual story of the tomb. The problem is that the script never makes me care about that relationship, yet focuses on it so much that I feel the science is completely underserved.

I was also a little bothered by the portrayal of the Egyptian government as officious, soulless bureaucrats. I'm not saying they weren't, but I think the history of Egypt, Britain, and artifacts is a rather complicated one and this strikes me as a simplistic approach.

Overall, this feels like a script written by someone who wasn't convinced that Carter's discovery of the Tomb was particularly compelling, and thus ginned it up with romance and conflict and attempted to shape it into a conventional and fairly forgettable little drama.

On the other hand, the story is scenic, the actors are likable, there are good moments, and overall the series kept me entertained until it fizzled at the end.

Loved the show, I've been to the valley of the kings and I remember travelling up the road to get there and you pass carters house. Didn't enter Tut's tomb because it cost extra, but there are so many great tombs to see. Anyway all the stuff is in the Egyptian museum in Cairo which I did see

Why do film makers always feel the need to re-write history as they wish it to have been. rather than leaving it as it was? This series is replete with historical inaccuracies, geographic inaccuracies, and all manner of other errors. Absolute rubbish. Even the very simplest of historical facts, such as Carter's first opening of and entry into the tomb, are completely erroneous. The impression I have is of writers, directors, and producers who assume or hope that most viewers are too stupid to know the difference ... a total disregard for their audience.

Despite the inaccuracies, this miniseries is still watchable fascinating and well made. The story of the greatest discovery is so good that it makes up for the faults. The discovery itself is quite thrilling and one can really feel the joy.

One of the best points is the detail shown. There are lots of details about the financial, political difficulties regarding the dig. It does give some historical context to the time of the discovery. The question over what Egypt gets to keep and what the discoverer gets as a reward is interesting. It's not right that foreigners take away the historical treasures of any country yet the discoverer needs some compensation for their expenses.

Dealing with the faults: It wasn't filmed in Egypt and the sand and valley are darker and don't look like Egypt. It would have been tough to film in Egypt with all the instability since 2011 anyway. The romances with a Met Museum woman and Lady Evelyn Herbert are a little distracting but I guess if they didn't blow these up it would have been kind of like a documentary. There are some bad American accents of a few characters. Also Max Irons is too young looking at the time of the discovery - bit like Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the Tudors. But so what - he is watchable and actually is quite good here if you ignore the age thing - I can't think of another young actor who could have done a better job.

A little more of the factual elements of the curse could have been shown besides Lord Carnarvon's death. Some strange things did happen. Better than showing the romances.

If you enjoyed this - highly recommend a 1980 TV movie "The Curse of King Tut's Tomb", an excellent and exciting movie about the discovery and the curse. Forget about the more recent one with Casper Van Dien.

Quite a pleasure to watch despite it's faults.