As someone who grew up in Europe during the 1980s, "the Line of Beauty" just seems like a self-indulgent memoir, written by someone who happened to have industry connections to make it into a production. Yes, we all remember it wasn't "cool" or "in" to be gay back then, and we all remember AIDS was scaring everyone witless. But take away the job/industry back-story and you're just left with some social-climbing, name-dropping nobody trying to interest us in who he knew way back when. This simply wasn't compelling, interesting or unique.

The Line of Beauty looks great and is well acted and that's about it. It's not terrible, but there's nothing engaging about the story either. The Line of Beauty feels a bit like Brideshead Revisited in that the story is about an outsider who becomes an intimate of a wealthy family. But the Line lacks the depth of Brideshead, the story meanders until some dramatic plot points are thrown in. The characters have nothing going on beyond their descriptions, they're more like sketches of characters. And there's nothing appealing about any character. That, along with the meandering story, makes it difficult to stay interested and keep watching.But flaws aside the Line of Beauty is fine for an evening of empty TV viewing, especially if you're doing something else at the same time.

I decided to watch this serial after seeing the endless adverts for it on the BBC in the weeks prior to it starting. I watched it despite the fact that I don't like the pretentious kind of stuff that Alan Hollinghurst writes (sorry to his fans but I think we have a case of the emperor's new clothes with this author's work). I admit that the acting is excellent, it is beautifully shot and I was reasonably entertained by it - however- I found that the storyline was extremely thin and after watching all three episodes feel very unsatisfied with this rather empty production. The 'explicit' gay sex that the media droned on about has all been done before on TV - several times - so it was nothing very shocking I'm afraid. Full marks for production values but low ones for storyline/content I'm afraid.

Alan Hollinghurst's 'The Line of Beauty' is, at least in this adaptation, a version of 'The Great Gatsby' fitted to 1980s Britain, the story of a young man from an ordinary background who mistakenly harbours too many illusions about the beautiful people of the smart set. The story lacks the utter poignancy of Fitzgerald's book because the hero (who, co-incidentally or not, shares the name of Nick with the other novel's protagonist) only rejects his adopted world when it rejects him; But the screenplay, cinematography, and performances are all first rate, especially that of Tim McInerny, playing a MP whose ultimate ruthlessness, self-righteousness, and rottenness, is hidden beneath a layer of almost genuine charm and kindness. The political overtones of the story are somewhat lost in a treatment that dwells almost exclusively inside the gilded balloon, and all of the characters could be handled less sympathetically with some justification, but the indulgent early mood reaps final reward when things go sour. Screenwriter Andrew Davies made his name with the contemporary series 'A Very Peculiar Practice', but these days seems to concentrate largely on period drama. This aberration proves itself welcome, and leaves one hopeful of more to come.