When i saw Beowulf in the TV listings, i immediately hoped that a decent drama had been created, based on the historical poem, and produced to a high standard. I was quickly disappointed.
Although the story is very loosely based on the old English poem about a Scandinavian monster terrorising a Danish King, that is pretty much where the similarity ends. You are very quickly introduced to CGI trolls working a in human village in place of oxen, turning a wheel. It is at this point you realise the slant is farther toward the fantasy realm drama than the historical realm drama.
In terms of the characters, they are rather cliché and lacked depth. The sets are OK in parts and in others look like cheap fantasy set pieces. They also seem inconsistent as great halls with cast relief gates in bronze are hardly likely to be the product of a 20 person village. The grandeur of some of the buildings is far out of whack with the population size and any semblance of industry or agriculture.
Casting, and cast diversity - within minutes you are introduced to characters that are obviously Indian Asian, and also Black (African). There are quite a few characters with diverse ethnic origins. Again, if you were expecting something akin to the fantastic 'Vikings' or even the Stars productions like 'Spartacus' forget it.There is no attempt at historical, cultural, or geographic realism as a backdrop for this show.
A Black male actor appears in Arabic dress who speaks with a solid south England accent. I totally get diversity in a modern TV show about modern society, or even in culturally mixed locations like Rome, but in something apparently 'based' on an AngloScandinavian tale/poem it hardly fits. This reality works in both directions, if i were watching a show about the rise of a chieftain in Africa in 300BC, then i'd hardly expect to see the cast featuring heavily with Chinese and white Australian sounding actors (it just drags you out of the show). It's another element that constantly reminds the viewer that there is no historic setting for this and it is little more than a uber low budget Lord of The Rings rip off merged merged with the title Beowulf.
If this show were targeting adults, one has to ask, who watches stuff like this? The script, acting, story seems quite immature. It does feel more like a teen show, however it is on UK TV in a late evening slot. For this reason i suspect it won't pick up the viewers, and won't make a second season.
