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The War of the Worlds (British TV series)

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This article is about the 2019 three-part British drama made by the BBC. For the 2019 Fox/Canal+ multiple season adaptation, see War of the Worlds (2019 TV series). For other uses, see The War of the Worlds (disambiguation).

The War of the Worlds
Genre
Based onThe War of the Worlds
by H. G. Wells
Written byPeter Harness
Directed byCraig Viveiros
Starring
ComposerRuss Davies
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of series1
No. of episodes3
Production
Executive producers
  • Damien Timmer
  • Preethi Mavahalli
  • Peter Harness
  • Craig Viveiros
  • Tommy Bulfin
  • Minglu Ma
  • Jamie Brown
ProducerBetsan Morris Evans
Production locationUnited Kingdom
CinematographyJames Friend
Production companies
Original release
NetworkBBC One
Release17 November (2019-11-17) –
1 December 2019 (2019-12-01)

The War of the Worlds is a British three-part science fiction drama television series, produced by Mammoth Screen for the BBC and co-produced with Creasun Media and Red Square. The series is an Edwardian period adaptation of H.G. Wells' 1898 science fiction novel of the same name about a Martian invasion, and is the first British television adaptation of the novel. The War of the Worlds premiered in other countries before its UK broadcast on the BBC between 17 November and 1 December 2019.

Premise

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In Edwardian England, 1905, journalist George (Rafe Spall) has left his unhappy marriage behind to start a life with his partner Amy (Eleanor Tomlinson), an aspiring researcher, in the town of Woking. There, they befriend Ogilvy (Robert Carlyle), an astronomer and scientist. After a meteorite lands in the woods and proves to be more dangerous than it first appeared, they must fight to survive amid an alien invasion.[1][2][3]

Cast

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Main

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Recurring and guest

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Episodes

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No.EpisodeDirected byWritten byOriginal UK air dateUK viewers
(millions) [4]
1Episode 1Craig ViveirosPeter Harness17 November 2019 (2019-11-17)6.92
2Episode 2Craig ViveirosPeter Harness24 November 2019 (2019-11-24)5.80
3Episode 3Craig ViveirosPeter Harness1 December 2019 (2019-12-01)5.49

Production

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Development

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The War of the Worlds was first announced in December 2015,[5] with the BBC confirming production of the series in May 2017.[6] The series was produced by Mammoth Screen for the BBC, co-produced with Creasun Media, in association with Red Square.[7]

Writer Peter Harness expanded the role of the narrator's wife from the novel, stating "I think the clearest choice that I made from the start of this project was to give the male character a wife who had strength of character in her own right [...] It was very important to me to make the female character three-dimensional".[8]

The three-part series was directed by Craig Viveiros and produced by Betsan Morris Evans. It was executive produced by Viveiros, Damien Timmer, Preethi Mavahalli and Peter Harness from Mammoth Screen;[1] Tommy Bulfin from the BBC;[1] Minglu Ma from Creasun; and Jamie Brown from Red Square.[9]

The interpretation makes use of time-shifting forwards and backwards in the narrative timeline in order to "upend audience expectations".[10]

Filming

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Filming began in April 2018 in Liverpool.[1] Locations include St George's Plateau, Eldon Grove, Vauxhall (where an abandoned building was used as a London location), Sir Thomas Street, Dale Street, Ainsdale Woods, Delamere Forest, the village of Great Budworth in Cheshire,[11] the Palm House at Sefton Park, and Croxteth Hall.[12] Filming and post-production were completed by May 2019.[13]

Release

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Marketing

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The first footage from the BBC drama appeared in July 2018, followed by teaser trailers in January 2019, with the first full trailer for the drama being released in September 2019.[14][15][16]

Broadcast

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Originally set to premiere in the UK during Christmas 2018,[13] The War of the Worlds actually premiered in Canada on T+E between 6 and 20 October 2019.[17] It was also broadcast in two parts instead of three on New Zealand's TVNZ 1 between 13 and 20 October 2019.[18] Mammoth Screen announced in September 2019 that the programme was expected to be released in the UK in late 2019;[19] the first episode had its UK premiere on 17 November 2019.[20] The three-episode programme was released weekly in the UK.[21]

ITV Studios Global Entertainment is responsible for the international distribution of The War of the Worlds miniseries.[1] It has been sold to major European countries and African territories.[22]

Critical reception

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The War of the Worlds has received mixed reviews from critics. The series holds a 68% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 22 critic reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Respectful, if not exactly riveting, Craig Viveiros' reimagined The War of the Worlds wandering narrative undermines its strong performances".[23]

Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian gave the drama four stars, deeming it a "solid, reliable adaptation" of the source material which remained "thoroughly and entirely respectful" to the novel after the narrative alterations. She praised the score and the presentation of the "scale of the catastrophe", but criticised the plot's pacing – namely its slow start and use of flash-forwards – stating it had a "lack of urgency".[3] Ed Cumming gave it three stars in The Independent, praising the set design and saying the leads do a "reasonable job" of portraying the relationship between their characters, but complained about its attempts to speak to contemporary political issues, stating, "The real war here is not between humans and aliens, but between a classic tale and the perceived liberal expectations of audiences in 2019".[2]

In The Telegraph, Ed Power criticised it for appearing low-budget and for the relationship between the main characters taking precedence over the invasion, which was "presented almost as an afterthought".[24] In other reviews from the paper, Anita Singh had similar thoughts, describing poor-quality visual effects and a lack of terror compared to the original. She said the characters had "understandably" been fleshed-out, but was critical of the "soppy love story" and of Spall's performance, giving the first two episodes two stars and one star respectively.[25][26]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Filming begins on BBC One drama The War of the Worlds". BBC. 6 April 2018. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b Cumming, Ed (18 November 2019). "The War of the Worlds review: A lavish adaptation let down by its need to be socially relevant". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b Nicholson, Rebecca (17 November 2019). "The War of the Worlds review – doom, dystopia and a dash of Downton". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  4. ^ "Four-screen dashboard". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  5. ^ Eddy, Cheryl (18 December 2015). "A New War of the Worlds TV Show Is in the Works". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  6. ^ Liptak, Andrew (4 May 2017). "BBC is making a Victorian-era War of the Worlds TV series". The Verge. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  7. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (15 October 2018). "ITV Studios racks up pre-sales on 'The War Of The Worlds' drama". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 28 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  8. ^ Morgan Jeffery (11 November 2019). "Why BBC's War of the Worlds adaptation made this huge change to the book; Digital Spy". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  9. ^ Perez, Lexy (29 September 2019). "BBC Unveils First Look at 'War of the Worlds' Adaptation in Debut Trailer". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  10. ^ Croot, James (13 October 2019). "The War of the Worlds: Eleanor Tomlinson shines in BBC's slow-burning sci-fi". Stuff (company). Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  11. ^ "Liverpool Echo". Liverpool Echo. 8 April 2018. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  12. ^ "BBC viewers stunned by Liverpool sets in historic alien drama". 17 November 2019. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  13. ^ a b Ling, Thomas (23 July 2019). "Don't worry, BBC1's The War of the Worlds IS still coming to TV". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  14. ^ BBC (15 July 2018). Brand new Drama coming soon - BBC. Event occurs at 0:22. Retrieved 17 November 2019 – via YouTube.
  15. ^ "BBC Drama 2019. Get Obsessed. | OFFICIAL TRAILER". January 2019. Archived from the original on 1 September 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019 – via YouTube.
  16. ^ Seddon, Dan (29 September 2019). "BBC's The War of the Worlds adaptation finally lands first trailer". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  17. ^ "Channel Your Fears: T+E Conjures Up Five Spooky New Shows and Resurrects Two Fan-Favourite Series This October". Blue Ant Media. 5 September 2019. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  18. ^ "The War of the Worlds". TVNZ. 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 3 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  19. ^ Mammoth Screen [@mammothscreen] (9 September 2019). "#TheWarOfTheWorlds, the H.G. Wells classic science fiction adaptation by Peter Harness, directed by Craig Viveiros and starring Eleanor Tomlinson, Rafe Spall, Robert Carlyle and Rupert Graves will be arriving in autumn 2019 on @BBCOne" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 September 2019 – via Twitter.
  20. ^ Mammoth Screen [@mammothscreen] (5 November 2019). "They're coming. #TheWarOfTheWorlds comes to @BBCOne on Sunday 17th November" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 November 2019 – via Twitter.
  21. ^ Kiefer, Halle. "BBC's War of the Worlds Trailer: Tell King Edward VII to Get His Mech Suit On. The Aliens Are Here". Vulture.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  22. ^ Chu, Henry (29 September 2019). "'The War of the Worlds' Trailer Drops From the BBC (Watch)". Variety. Archived from the original on 29 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  23. ^ "The War of the Worlds (2019): Season 1 (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  24. ^ Power, Ed (18 November 2019). "The Martians deserve better: has the BBC already lost The War of the Worlds?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  25. ^ Singh, Anita (18 November 2019). "The War of the Worlds, episode 1 review: small-scale Martians and women being woke in Woking". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  26. ^ Singh, Anita (24 November 2019). "The War of the Worlds, episode 2 review - more soppy domestic drama than sci-fi thriller". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
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