The Jewel in the Crown (1984)

I really wanted to love this series, and at first, It drew me in for the first few episodes, but then after that and by the ending, I was left with a feeling of lack of tying in of the story. We begin the story with a set of characters that then changes. New characters are introduced, such as miss manners aunt, but then later on, there is really no tie in at the end. It didn't make sense to me. We also hear that Hari Kumar is released from jail eventually, but it is rather anticlimactic. We never know what ends up happening to miss manners aunt and the child of Miss manners and kumar. In the end the "bad guy" gets it, but again it's all rather anticlimactic. no justice really was done, and this story is begging for justice. I didn't read the novels, so I have no idea how true to the novels the series is, but I was completely let down by the second half and feel I wasted hours of my life watching it.

What can you say about this inimatable piece of work which stunned the UK in the mid eighties? British television drama has always had a reputation for being superior as it tends not to be involved in sensationalism or commercial value. Maybe today this theory doesn't stand up too well but The Jewel in the Crown is one of the most beautifully written and performed pieces of work that the current generations could hope for. Forget about fast pace and update technology as this is a serious historical piece about Britains' end in India during WW11 and thus the de-mobilising of the 'polite society' class abroad. Cinematically photographed and performed to perfection, with Tim Piggott-Smith, Judy Parfitt and Peggy Ashcroft stealing the honours. This was repeated on UK TV in 1997 and everyone agreed how it had lost none of its power and dramatic pull. This will stay with you forever.

I think that this series is absolute perfection. The acting is magnificent, the story is fascinating and the characters are so real that one thinks that one is actually watching a documentary about the final days of the Raj. It is a marvelous adaptation, not a spare scene and it is beautifully directed. It is tightly woven and tells its tale with enviable clarity. I can not find one flaw in this stupendous series. Literate, complex, compelling, this series is singular and an out and out classic. I fear that we will never see anything like this again. Given the current vapid and stupid landscape of American and British television, "The Jewel in the Crown" is THE exemplar of the height of drama.

Arguably the best television series ever made, it captures perfectly the spirit of the novel and the time in which it takes place, a time in which the British were slowly losing India without properly realizing it till it was too late. The photography is breathtaking and the performances are outstanding by everyone. Dame Peggy Ashcroft as the haunted "servant" who has been accepted as a companion by Fabia Drake but who is later asked to leave when her protector dies and also by Geraldine James who slowly sees her world crumble before her eyes, unable to do anything about it, but finding at least SOME kind of solace in Tim Piggot-Smith's arms. Especially the first episode with the tender love scene between Susan Wooldridge and Art Malik (both utterly fantastic) is superb and not until much much later does the horrid truth about what happened that night occur to us. In short: a pure joy, which keeps you riveted to the screen from start to end. I have watched the entire series twice and will surely watch it again and again, if only to marvel at the performances and the craftsmanship of the production.