Review: Middlemarch (1994)

It's inevitable that I'll have to review some series I dislike at some point. Middlemarch is one of those series. I've decided to post this review after my Lark Rise to Candleford review to get the series I don't like out of the way, so I can pay more attention to series I do like.

Middlemarch (or as I like to call it, "Dear God, What did I Just Watch?" or "Unlikeable Characters: The Series") is based on a book by George Eliot. It doesn't have a plot. Instead it's about the lives of several residents of the village of Middlemarch, especially Dr. Lydgate and Dorothea Casaubon (née Brooke).

I didn't recognise many of the actors. These are the ones I did recognise:
Michael Hordern (Cedric in Ivanhoe 1982, and the King in The Slipper and the Rose) as Mr. Featherstone
Rachel Power (Pleasant Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend 1998) as Mary Garth
Elizabeth Spriggs (Mrs. Jennings in Sense and Sensibility 1995 and Mrs. Gamp in Martin Chuzzlewit) as Mrs. Cadwallader
Robert Hardy (Sir John Middleton in Sense and Sensibility 1995) as Arthur Brooke
Rufus Sewell (Prince Leopold in The Illusionist) as Will Ladislaw
Douglas Hodge (Willy Wonka in the musical of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Tertius Lydgate
Pam Ferris (Mrs. General in Little Dorrit 2008) as Mrs. Dollop
Judi Dench (Miss Matty in Cranford) as the voice of George Eliot
Jonathan Coy (Charles Cheeryble in Nicholas Nickleby 2001) as Ladislaw's friend

The story starts with Dr. Lydgate arriving in Middlemarch, certain he'll do great things there. Shortly afterward, Dorothea Brooke accepts the proposal of the much-older Reverend Edward Casaubon. This marriage turns out to be a disaster, thanks in part to the interference of Casaubon's cousin Will Ladislaw, who reminds me a great deal of Wickham. Meanwhile, Dr. Lydgate makes a similarly ill-advised marriage. He marries Rosamund Vincy, an airheaded spendthrift, who does her best to bankrupt him.

There are exactly two somewhat likeable characters in the whole series: Mary Garth, and Mr. Featherstone, who's more comical than likeable. And he dies less than half-way through. Everyone else is either obnoxious, disgusting, irresponsible, or practically a non-entity.

Dorothea sets my teeth on edge. She blunders headlong into a marriage that anyone can clearly see is going to be a bad idea, and then while she's married she becomes infatuated with her husband's cousin, who spends most of his time with other women. And when her husband dies and she marries the cousin, we're supposed to see this as a happy ending.

Dr. Lydgate is, quite frankly, an idiot. He marries a clearly vain, selfish brat. To please her he rents a house he can't afford. She spends practically every penny he has, and throws a fit when he complains about this and suggests they sells their furniture. I couldn't stand him or that imbecile Rosamund. Every time they appeared I fast-forwarded the DVD.

The most interesting thing to happen in the series is when Mr. Bulstrode is revealed to be a hypocrite, and helps cause the death of the man who could expose this to the whole town. And this happens near the end, and is quickly forgotten about in favour of the incredibly boring romantic entanglements of various Middlemarch residents.

I never thought I'd find a series that would rival Lark Rise to Candleford for the dubious honour of "worst period drama I've ever seen". Middlemarch is that series.

Is it available online?: I didn't even check. If for some reason you want to watch it, you'll have to search for it yourself.

Rating: 1/10.