Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, Peter Capaldi, Howard Charles, Maimie McCoy, Luke Pasqualino, Sean Pertwee, Alexandra Dowling, Ryan Gage, Tamla Kari, Hugo Speer, Roger Ringrose, Charlotte Hope, Holly Earl, Bo Poraj, Virginia Fiol, Matt Slack.

The Musketeers has become one of those programmes in which to simply ignore it is just not good manners! The squeal of adventure thunders in on every episode and in this final chapter of the series, Musketeers Don’t Die Easily, many traps are laid, various deceptions are deployed by the writer and even if for one brief moment the pace of the action was going to be enhanced by the sound of someone whistling Ennio Morricone’s epic score to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the story was one that saw the whole creation of this adaptation be seen for what it is, just terrific!

This adaptation of the story of honour and nefarious deeds has been arguably the finest one in a hundred years of trying to capture the complexity and spirit of Alexandra Dumas work. For all the false starts, the comedy value, of which to be fair was good for its time, the almost unwilling scripts and poorly acted representations of great literary characters; The Musketeers has been bold, brave and overall superb. It has finally made Tom Burke and Santiago Cabrera into the leading men they deserve to be, it has seen Maimie McCoy perform with absolute grace and the spell of danger that has been missing for so long in the role of Milady Di Winter and Luke Pasqualino and Howard Charles excel in ways you just hoped they would. It also saw Peter Capaldi act his socks off in a role he was destined to play before he takes on another iconic role as The Doctor.

Whilst Tim Curry played the Cardinal with beguilement and more than a nod to his greatest screen role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, no actor has really ever caught the real menace and mastery of the state in such a way as Peter Capaldi has in this role and his attention to the character, from scheming to subservient has been incredible. Not least when confronted by the sight of the Queen in this episode, the look in his eyes, the sheer magnetism of his facial expression was one to watch over and over again.

Finally a great series, of good old fashioned adventure and escapades, has been a staple diet on the B.B.C. Sunday night schedule. It will be missed!

Ian D. Hall