No matter where you came down on Thrones, it’s easier to see the seams of this production in its wake. Atwell also rightly won an Emmy for somehow believably conveying that her character would be romantically into Redmayne’s character. Excepting the great McShane, the villains are one-dimensional and plot points telegraphed a mile away. It’s another strength amid a script that can be, for lack of a better term, soapy. Great sets and location shooting reinforce these vibes as well, letting audiences sink into the time period. Strong editing weaves these narratives together well alongside the cathedral’s construction and offers a thick slice of life in medieval times. Pillars unfolds against the backdrop of the English Civil War and adjacent figures involved in building the cathedral and running the town – from the local power-hungry bishop (McShane) to the daughter (Atwell) of a deposed local earl eager to win back her family’s fortune. By mysterious happenstance, a local cathedral in disrepair burns down – ensuring Tom will build what the series infers is one of the first Gothic Cathedrals for the local Prior, Phillip (Macfadyen). The story follows Tom Builder (Sewell), who arrives with his family to look for work in the town of Kingsbridge. Eddie Redmayne is in this, too, and he’s … fine. McShane and Macfadyen particularly find the core of their characters and work wonderfully onscreen, driving the story’s drama as well as being joys to watch. Those performers are the main reason for the miniseries’ success, as the writing is at times quite unsteady.

More than a little was likely spent on the show’s cast, which boasts Ian McShane, Matthew Macfadyen, Rufus Sewell, Hayley Atwell, Sarah Parish and, in a cameo, Donald Sutherland.

With a $40 million budget, this is Thrones-level storytelling before that was a proven hit. Still, that makes it fair to review the series in its own right. However, Follett himself appears in a cameo so he can’t have considered it that bad. The show changes significant elements of the book, especially the ending, and omits several characters. It’s sensible, then, that Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free production banner would adapt the two books into prestige miniseries of eight episodes each (in 20, respectively). Well-loved upon publication and through the years, Pillars was followed by the 2007 sequel World Without End – which enjoyed a more muted, but still positive, reception. A departure from author Ken Follett’s usual thrillers, The Pillars of the Earth hit bookshelves in 1989 – a mammoth chronicle of the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England.

Ken follett world without end review