Review by andrewpugh607

Well these are my favourite books and the wait for an adaptation has been painful. And with something so good you really wanted it to come accross as well on the screen. And it almost does. The production values are good quality and the plot maintains its integrity even with bringing in Barak a book early. Shardlake is acted superbly, just how he should be - afflicted with his condition but a man of integrity and compassion (and a little steel). One mark off for the usual multicultural rubbish. Been said a million times and it didn't ruin it no, but anything that stops you being fully immersed in a programme is a negative. The one actual character of colour, Brother Guy is underused and Abbot Florian's whole vulnerability was from him being a patricial figure of high birth lost in the maelstrom of the dissolution of the monasteries, so the casting totally negated this no matter how well acted it was. Apart from that oh so common complaint it would have been a 10.