The BBCs mini-series adaptation had all the ingredients to succeed. It had a solid cast, a setting in a source material faithful time period, and enough time to properly tell the story. With all this in mind, it’s even more disappointing to see the result that we got.
The three part show turned H.G.Wells’ iconic sci-fi epic into a soapy melodrama. It is a strange decision to make and I cannot possibly understand why they did it, but in doing so they sucked out all the potential dread and societal foreboding the story really should focus on.
The structure of flash forwards also took the drama out of the current time storyline, therefore making much of the show seem almost pointless. As for the flash forward themselves, they were arguably the stand out parts of the show due to the impressive post-apocalyptic visual choice, but the way they were used was still very poor.
Eleanor Tomlinson is the only actor worth mentioning here, she is very talented and does her best with that she is given, but there isn’t much to really work with.
This could have been something great for the BBC, who have been on an incredible hot streak in recent years for dramas, and instead they completely botched it.
Rating = 2/5
Howe's World of Film and TV 