In 1844, Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers was published, implanting D’artagnan and his three musketeer friends Aramis, Athos, and Porthos into the hearts and minds of children and adults across the globe for evermore. In 2014, Adrian Hodges’ BBC television adaptation The Musketeers is whipping up a storm with its modern take on the four loveable friends and their intriguing world of action, romance, and politics.
Despite a slight twist on the original story, which makes D’artagnan a musketeer himself in the BBC adaptation, the plot runs hand-in-hand with its 19th century inspirer and all of the characters can be recognised from the original story. As fantastic as this respect for the original text is, it does rather assume a level of knowledge of the characters and politics of the time which the majority of the audience is unlikely to have (I bet you didn’t even know D’artagnan wasn’t a musketeer in the orginal – or even who he is). As a result, the pilot episode is a little hard to sink your teeth into; characters are briefly introduced but action sequences take precendent over scene-setting, leaving viewers a little bemused as to what exactly is going on.
However, the beautifully developed characters and their subtle storylines are more than enough to keep the viewer coming back for more, regardless of the ‘story-of-the-week’ format. Before long, every man, woman, and child is laughing, crying, and duelling along with the Musketeers, hissing at the bad guys, and pitying the poor, useless King.
Speaking of beautiful, it is impossible not to marvel at the wonderfully detailed costumes, props and sets. The action scenes are excellently choreographed and directed to create a thrilling atmosphere, and Murray Gold’s marvellous score completes the viewer’s utter sensual transportation back to 17th century France.
Starring the dashing Luke Pasqualino (of Skins fame) as D’artagnan, and the equally talented Santiago Cabrera, Tom Burke, and Howard Charles as Aramis, Athos, and Porthos, The Musketeers cast has been exquisitely selected to feature a host of famous and brilliant actors who were seemingly born to play these roles. Peter Capaldi’s performance as the power-hungry Cardinal Richelieu is chilling, and Hugo Speer portrays the respected leader of the Musketeers, Captain Treville, to perfection.
Following the BBC’s latest trend of modern, dry comedy which we’ve seen so much of in Sherlock and Doctor Who, The Musketeers is delicately humourous through witty, clever dialogue and subtle direction, rather than traditionally ‘slapstick’ funny. Despite being aired after the watershed it is family-friendly; in the words of writer and creater Adrian Hodges’, it is “adult in theme but it [is not] Game of Thrones” (read Adrian Hodges’ blog about The Musketeers here).
Watch if you liked: Merlin, Game of Thrones, BBC’s Robin Hood
The Musketeers is broadcast on BBC One on Sunday evenings at 9pm. You can catch up on the first four episodes on iPlayer.