War and Peace

He's certainly versatile. I watch Happy Valley with fearful fascination. I started watching because of the area and cast, then realised how good it was.
Watched 'Vera' - again so well acted and produced. Oh dear, I'm watching too much tv!

I don't know if I want to watch Happy Valley Elrel and watch James Norton as that horrible Tommy Lee Royce.
It was such a relief to find him playing the vicar in Grantchester afterwards.

I like James Norton!
On another thread someone asked for opinion on the millisecond glimpse of a bathing soldier's 'full frontal' (!).
Genuinely shocking were the battle scenes, FX I know, but so gory and a sobering insight into the real thing.

Yes, surely Anatole should have been played by a handsome, roguish-looking actor not one who looks like a Dickensian villain. It's surely quite possible to find an actor who looks charming and good-looking enough, with a slightly dissolute air, enough to sweep a 17 year old off her feet. There are at least two of them in the series already - Aneurin Barnard and the delicious Tom Burke?

I agree too, the actor playing Anatole wasn't at all good looking or charming, which he obviously had to be, to sweep her off her feet in that way.
I was very gripped by this latest episide though, they surely can't get the rest of the book in the remaining three episodes can they?I read the book when I was about 19 and loved it, may have to re-read it now.Oh those long Russian names though!

Okay, I'll do it, HannahLoisLuke - it can be yet another doomed my 2016 resolution. Thank you. Though I do feel that, like Tegan, I might be a bit lacking in staying power these days.

Tegan and Maggiemaybe - I agree about Anatole, he should have been played by a young man more likely to make an impressionable young woman weak at the knees.

I've just had a quick check through the contents page of the book, last read 40 years ago. Without giving any spoilers all I can say is this, the BBC must be planning a further series or three as two more episodes can't possibly cover the remaining story!!

Spent yesterday evening catching up as I hadn't watched it before. Enjoyable! I agree about the difference in layers of male and female clothing.

There was a period of my life [late teens early twenties] when I read Tolstoy, Gorky,Zola most of Dickens etc] and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, as I've got older I find that I can't read stuff like that. I'm glad that I did as I feel that, along with music it formed part of who I am [in particular 'Germinal' formed my political beliefs] but, although I try, I can't concentrate enough any more. The Mill on the Floss has been partly read for nearly 30 years and I'm afraid it will have to stay so.

Great drama! I was really hooked-so relieved when Natasha was prevented from running off and then Pierre turned into a super hero-loud cheers. But now Andrei is back can't wait to see what will happen.

Maggiemaybe. The book is well worth a read, it's not difficult as has often been said, just very long. I admit to skipping some of the battle strategy scenes, and some of Pierre's farming stuff is a bit too much but all in all a good read. In fact I'm thinking of giving it another go to fill in the gaps of the very excellent tv series.

W&P is my favourite Drama so far . I think it is so well done , I can`t wait for Sunday evenings "Call the midwife " followed by "War and Peace" . I too wondered about the skimpy outfits the women wear and how realistic this is . I also noticed it in Dickensian , off the shoulder dresses in those huge draughty houses must have been so uncomfortable .
There really are some great British dramas this year so far !

I've had a three volume set since I was at school, POGS - you can tell I was very young as it's backed, with my name inside I bet I only got 20 pages in. Many years later I put it on my list of 60 things to do before I was 60 - and didn't...

Could anyone tell me whether it's worth the commitment?

We'll i never! Our Pierre has found his **'s at last! I take my hat off to him. But did you ever see such an amoral, licentious pair as Pierre's wife and her brother? Like a couple of spiders - she binds them up in silk and he eats them!

I watched the first 3 episodes back to back yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The costumes, scenery all excellent. I have never read the book (feels uneducated emoticon) so I have nothing to compare it with. I know by reading the various write ups in one form or another that it has been supposedly 'hotted up' so how much of what has been aired is true to the book would anyone say?

Same here, Tegan. I don't think he's at all handsome, and he's got a shifty look about him. He'd not cause any fluttering in my stays.

It's Natasha not Sonya who was about to elope with the slimy seducer Anatole. Will it damage her chances with Andrei? Silly naive girl.
Pierre showed he's not the bumbling idiot we first thought. He just needs to ditch his devious scheming wife.

I think Sonya was said to be about 15 when the story started. She was an orphaned cousin living in the household and had no private means and very poor prospects of a decent, (ie wealthy) marriage she would probably go for the first reasonable guy who came along.

I don't think the chap she tried to elope with was gorgeous enough; I certainly wouldn't have wanted to risk my reputation for him .

I want to travel through the snow in a horse-drawn sleigh at night, wrapped in furs ?

Well, thank goodness for Pierre but is it too late? Got to wait for a week or reread that bit of the book, just can't remember what happens next.

Nothing wrong with a bit of frogging and tight trousers Greyduster. It's the longing looks that got me though.

It's the uniforms - all that frogging and tight trousers! ?

Watched the third episode again and absolutely entranced with the beautiful romantic ballroom dance with Andrei and Natasha. So much sexier than the naked romps usually served up nowadays. Love this dramatisation of W&P