The Winter King

I have to say that I've been looking forward to The Winter King ever since I first heard about it. I love these kind of shows, this genre is definitely one of my favorites. When I first heard about this I was excited but once I saw the trailers my expectations grew even more. While it might not be quite as good as I was hoping for it's still pretty good and worth the time to watch it. It might start a little slow for some but stick with it because it picks up in a hurry and you won't be able to stop watching. I didn't think Ian De Caestecker would be able to pull off the role of Arthur but he does. He's actually the best of the show. Besides the acting and writing being pretty good, the visuals are also good. I hope that we get multiple seasons of this.

It's hard to quantify why this show doesn't work. Certainly the historical inaccuracies turned me off, especially the language - who in the fifth century asks, "Gotta minute?"

But it's way more than that - mediocre acting, uninteresting characters, a plot as slow as a soap opera, and no beauty or elegance whatsoever. I'm not really into fight and battle scenes, but I would have welcomed a few in the first episode, in place of the violent beatings and degradation it contained.

Game of Thrones has huge pluses over this show, including internal consistency, and gorgeous actors with true talent.

Absolutely awful. I've waited 27 years for someone to bring this to the screen and all I have is a sense of crushing disappointment.

Right from the start, characters were not doing what the book had set out. The child Mordred was not Uther's son. Norwenna was not Uther's wife.

Merlin is a Druid of British Celtic origin. Hywel (Welsh name) is Merlin's Steward on the Tor. Lunete is Derfel's first female "companion" , is of Irish origin, and is not related to Hywel in any way. Morgan is disfigured by fire but appears whole on screen. When Gundleus attacks the Tor, Hywel is killed. Derfel rescues Nimue and makes his escape, picking up Hywel's sword. The sword is renamed "Hywelsbane" and features throughout the rest of the tale. That didn't happen on screen so will leave gaping holes in later episodes.

I lasted to half way through the third episode and then gave up. This ranks as one of the worst book to screen adaptations, only surpassed by "The Running Man"

Bernard Cornwall's Winter King trilogy are three great historical fiction novels centred around the legend of King Arthur. The books are full of characters, intrigue, action and compelling plot lines, all told with Cornwall's excellent skills that bring 4th century Britain to life.

So seeing a TV adaption with string source material filled me with excitement. Sadly, this series, while broadly following the books had inexplicably replaced strong characters with the cast from a day-time TV soap, with a similar dilution of any of the colour, depth and visceral action that make the books so compelling.

In truth I struggled through watching this with a constant sense of irritation and disappointment as the characters I so enjoyed in print were portrayed with all of their interesting flaws, eccentricities and depth of character removed. This felt like ordering for steak and red wine for dinner but being served tofu and water.

As a fan of book series (written by Bernard Cornwell whom also did the Saxon Stories that 'The Last Kingdom' is based on) I have been following the news and was eager to watch this show. To me, the trailer did not look promising given the lack of time provided to the book's central character - Derfel.

While it is obvious that this show would not be a faithful adaptation, cinema often isn't so I went in with an open mind.

The actors do a well enough job with what they are given, but it is obvious that the characters will not be the same as the book series (i.e. Merlin is meant to be senile and old, Morgan is not at all the same). Clearly this happens often as interpretations differ, but Winter King's interpretations are completely opposite to key characteristics for main characters.

While trying to view this property as a stand alone or outsider unaware of the original story, it is certainly better (maybe a 6.5/10 acknowledging my bias), though it provides nothing new or groundbreaking.

To most the show would be used to passably kill time. Entertaining enough I suppose. Time will tell where this show goes, does it get better with time or does it become The Witcher.