I had long heard of this program (never read any reviews) and had also always liked period pieces set in India, so I gave it a shot. The first two episodes were wonderful. Gloriously scripted and acted. It was then followed up by 12 or so episodes of wandering, poorly acted (for the most part) nonsense. I can only compare it to an afternoon soap opera. The dialogue, for the most part goes nowhere. In fact I think a majority of the dialogue consists of the following"care for a drink?" "Can I refresh your drink?" "How about another?" "We are meeting for dinner, would you care to join us?". "When is your train?" honestly...hours and hours and hours of this kind of stuff. Then, after they all sit down for supper and one character actually asks another character a question the view might want answered, the response will be "I prefer not to talk about that at dinner." As with most soap operas, you will also find. 100 different story lines that get started and never go anywhere and never get resolved....ever. Wooden actors...except for Dame Peggy (wonderful) and Charles Dance (who appears to be as frustrated with the storyline as you will be). Note actors in the first two episodes are good. It is as complete a waste of time as I have ever encountered. Note...the story line in the first two episodes basically ends after the first two episodes....it won't get anymore satisfactory than that.

Not knowing anything about the book, I was expecting this celebrated PBS series to be somewhat like a longer variation of the excellent David Lean movie Passage to India. But I was disappointed by Jewel in the Crown. While it did give me valuable glimpses into the British Raj, the class tensions between the British and the Indians (and between the British themselves), and the history of the period, the overall effect on me when the series ended was depression.And I did not enjoy the portrayals of rape, brutality, torture, insanity, homosexuality, etc. I regret having watched this series. If you would be offended by such content, then I also caution you about this film. PBS has been going downhill in recent years, in my opinion, as far as portraying more and more offensive content. After watching Jewel in the Crown, I now realize the decline had began much earlier - at least as early as 1984, when this series was broadcast.

This work kept me interested throughout, especilly enjoyed the photography and the insights into the Indian culture. Tim was totally evil and the girl was wimpy, but people are that way!!!! Sometimes your heroes aren't all that heroic, You don't have to love and hate every character in the show. If any fault at all, the characters could have been even more developed than this mini-series did them, and there could have been more explaination of some of the traditions of the Indian people. (like the Sutee scene.) Over all I enjoyed this series and rewatch and pick up new things every couple of years.

Very disappointing series that had some potential. As the series continues, it increasingly becomes a forum for homosexual politics. Also, largely a woman's movie, in the the first half at least. The whole series revolves around a man you are encouraged to hate, then feel sorry for and then hate again. Even his demise, which you are hoping for by the end of the first of 15 episodes, is disappointing. The British are made out to be thoroughly disagreeable throughout most of the series. Very little history, geography and politics of India, which I had hoped to see. The black and white documentary interjections are out of place and several don't make any sense at all, for example, D-Day - this is a movie about India, not about the invasion of Normandy! It is a loathsome and ponderous work with little redeeming qualities. Stay away in droves.