The Last Czars

I'll make it quick. The actors were good, the costumes, palaces etc too. What annoyed me were the narrators in between, there was no need for them, as did the twisting of the history since there were no russian historians involved in it, just british and maybe americans. Which also is bothering is that all of the actors speak british english which somehow doesn't reflect the mentality of russians. Also there is no need for the explicit sex scenes at all, there are simply too much of them. The rest is entertaining and well acted in my opinion.

Maybe an unpopular opinion in light of some of the other reviews here, but I actually liked the combination of drama/acting and documentary. It allowed me to understand the history better in simple terms, as well as see how some things that the historians described might have played out. As a history teacher myself, I believe history should be told like a story. I think they did a pretty good job of that.

And for anyone who wonders why the actor playing the czar has a tattoo and why it wasn't covered up for the role....Czar Nicholas actually did have a big dragon tattoo on his right forearm. That is historically accurate.

I'm surprised a lot of reviewers are not a fan of the commentary in between scenes. I however, loved this combination. I am a fan of history and when watching historical series or films I tend to google while watching because a lot of questions pop up in my head. This time I didn't need to do that, because all I ever wanted to know was told and explained in the series.

I think they created the right atmosphere and the music at the beginning is perfect to set the tone.

I watched all episodes in one go and was sad when I had finished them. Great acting as well. The historians in the series were perfectly cast by the way, they were really telling the story with emotion. This was a history class on steroids. Well done!

This historical docuseries swings away at the story of Nicholas and Alexandra, their children, and the mad monk Rasputin (played with gusto and some sort of wild Cockney accent by British actor Ben Cartwright). It has tons and tons of sparkle and glitz, but it's missing heart. You are not going to become terribly involved with Czar Nicholas or the family's tragic story. There are some great photos taken during the time period, and even some film clips. This adds interest. However, that and the glamorous costumes are not enough to save this series. I suggest watching the film "Nicholas and Alexandra" instead, or perhaps reading Robert Massie's book about the fall of the Romanovs, "Nicholas and Alexandra". Grade: C

Whilst a lot of documentary series include dramatised segments, this very much feels like a drama series that intermittently gets interrupted by documentary moments. It's an unusual format, but I got used to it very quickly. It knits together well and I didn't feel that one style of presenting the narrative was encroaching upon the other. They complement each other effectively to give insight into a period of history that, I have realised, I didn't know as much about as I first imagined. Minor point. Other reviewers have questioned Nicholas having a dragon tattoo. It's actually historically accurate. He got it on a trip to Japan before he became Czar.