Quick DVD Box Set Review – ‘The Musketeers’

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s funny how I seem to keep coming back to ‘The Three Musketeers’ by Alexandra Dumas every year. In 2021, I reviewed the 1993 film and in 2022, I reviewed the 2011 film. Both films I saw on Disney+. I’ve just finished checking out the BBC TV series ‘The Musketeers’, based on the 1844 novel.

My parents and I watched the complete series of ‘The Musketeers’ on DVD from the middle of 2022 to early 2023. I’m likely to remember the BBC TV series from 2014 to 2016 more than the movie versions of ‘The Three Musketeers’, since there are more stories to tell in a TV show than in the films.

Also, ‘The Musketeers’ is a very well-crafted and well-put together series. There is likely to be a debate on how faithful ‘The Musketeers’ is as an adaptation of the 1844 book and to real-life history, but I enjoyed watching each episode of the three seasons the show had. Each episode is compelling.

‘The Musketeers’ follows the exploits of four musketeers in 17th century Paris – Tom Burke as Arthos, Santiago Cabrera as Aramis, Howard Charles as Porthos and Luke Pasqualino as D’Artagnan. They serve and protect King Louis XIII and the citizens of Paris from those that threaten France’s stability.

I’ve also seen Howard Charles in Series 1 of the ‘Alex Rider’ TV series, and Santiago Cabrera has been in the first two seasons of ‘Star Trek: Picard’ and ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’. All four actors playing the Musketeer characters are really good. I’ve enjoyed their journeys in the BBC show.

The rest of the cast are equally good. There’s Tamla Kari as Constance, who becomes D’Artagnan’s lover and eventually wife in the series. There’s also Maimie McCoy as Milady de Winter. Maimie McCoy has also been in Series 1 of the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series on Channel 5. 🙂

Ryan Gage (who you may recognise as Alfrid in ‘The Hobbit’ film trilogy) plays King Louis in the series. There’s also Alexandra Dowling as Queen Anne. It’s interesting Queen Anne ended up sleeping with Aramis in the series and the son she bore for the King turns out to actually be Aramis’ son.

There are different villains for each season in ‘The Musketeers’. Peter Capaldi, who would go on to play the Twelfth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’, plays Cardinal Richelieu in Series 1. I enjoyed Peter Capaldi in ‘The Musketeers’. A pity he didn’t do more than one season because…you know, ‘Doctor Who’. 😀

Marc Warren (who you may know for playing Elton Pope in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Love & Monsters’) plays Comte de Rochefort in Series 2. Marc Warren is excellent being the evil Rochefort in ‘The Musketeers’ series. It’s quite a contrast of a role compared to playing Elton in ‘Doctor Who’.

In Series 3, there are four villains for our heroes. There’s Rupert Everett as the Marquis de Feron. Rupert Everett voiced Prince Charming in ‘Shrek 2’ and ‘Shrek the Third’ and he voiced the Fox in ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ film. He was also in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ 2002 film. 🙂

There’s Matthew McNulty as Lucien Grimaud, who’s a nasty piece of work in Series 3, as well as Matt Stokoe as Captain Marcheaux and Andrew Flynn as Gaston, the King’s brother. The series also features Hugo Speer as Captain Treville as well as Thalissa Teixeira as Sylvie, Atho’s lover in Series 3.

The series does end on a happy note, with the Musketeers getting their happy endings. I did wonder if the last episode was setting up a possible Series 4, which could happen, but I think it’s good it ends here rather than carry on. I’m not certain how the story can keep going, based on the original novel.

‘The Musketeers’ is a BBC TV series I highly recommend checking out. The action and the character drama are very good throughout each episode. I’m likely to remember the BBC TV series more than the two movies I’ve seen. Whether on DVD or via BBC iPlayer, you won’t be disappointed with this series. 🙂

Incidentally, Paul McGann (who plays the Eighth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’ and was in the 1993 film adaptation of ‘The Three Musketeers’) guest stars in one of the episodes of ‘The Musketeers’ BBC TV series. 😀

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂

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