The Name of the Rose
BBC2
I’ve neither read Umberto Eco’s 1983 novel, The Name of the Rose, or watched the film adaptation of 1986 starring Sean Connery, so I was a blank slate when it came to the first two episodes (11 and 18 October) of the mini-series now running on BBC2.
It did occur to me, however, that a lot of dry ice has rolled across the uplands of popular culture since the 1980s. They’d never heard of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code in the dark ages of 1983 – or Hogwarts or Game of Thrones. Yet in 2019, their influence hangs heavily over any attempt on television to recreate the landscape of medieval Christendom.
Nonetheless, in a whodunnit wrapped in various habits and a myriad of competing theologies, it certainly helps to know your Dominicans from your Franciscans from your Benedictines. Nodding off is not advised; one minute’s shut-eye and you’ll have missed a vital heresy. The episode summaries accompanying my press previews were the longest I have ever seen. There is quite a lot of narrative explanation on screen – helpful, but it adds to an overall ponderousness.