Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Mark Christiansen 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.

luvdec I think that this series is absolute perfection. The acting is magnificent, the story is fascinating and the characters are so real that one thinks that one is actually watching a documentary about the final days of the Raj. It is a marvelous adaptation, not a spare scene and it is beautifully directed. It is tightly woven and tells its tale with enviable clarity. I can not find one flaw in this stupendous series. Literate, complex, compelling, this series is singular and an out and out classic. I fear that we will never see anything like this again. Given the current vapid and stupid landscape of American and British television, "The Jewel in the Crown" is THE exemplar of the height of drama.

Henryk von Babenberg Arguably the best television series ever made, it captures perfectly the spirit of the novel and the time in which it takes place, a time in which the British were slowly losing India without properly realizing it till it was too late. The photography is breathtaking and the performances are outstanding by everyone. Dame Peggy Ashcroft as the haunted "servant" who has been accepted as a companion by Fabia Drake but who is later asked to leave when her protector dies and also by Geraldine James who slowly sees her world crumble before her eyes, unable to do anything about it, but finding at least SOME kind of solace in Tim Piggot-Smith's arms. Especially the first episode with the tender love scene between Susan Wooldridge and Art Malik (both utterly fantastic) is superb and not until much much later does the horrid truth about what happened that night occur to us. In short: a pure joy, which keeps you riveted to the screen from start to end. I have watched the entire series twice and will surely watch it again and again, if only to marvel at the performances and the craftsmanship of the production.

arshadrahimtulla I can't understand why there are so many negative comments on 'The Jewel in the Crown'. What a well-made series with great performances. Yes, it does tend to drag during the first three or four episodes but anyone who's read 'The Raj Quartet' would realize that the book is just so - several seemingly unrelated events taking place in a larger political context. The series was definitely better than the books and effectively recreated the political milieu of the time. I could read the quartet only after having seen the mini. Kudos to Ken Taylor for his adaptation of a convoluted epic. Definitely a Herculean task. And kudos to the directors (Christopher Morahan & Jim O'Brien) who despite the mammoth task of filming a period piece did it with panache. Anyone who has worked in India (especially a foreign crew) would know just how frustrating an experience it can be. Yet, they've come out with a magnificent product. Truly a classic. Fine viewing. Definitely recommended.