User reviews

The scenery is probably the only element of this three-part series that isn't bleak and grim. Set in 1880s Northern Ireland, Beth lives with her wealthy, landowner/quarry owner stepfather, Billy, who is a depressed, occasionally violent, frequently drunk, lecherous and bitter man. She falls in love with Liam, a local Catholic tenant farmer and pro-Parnell Republican who convinces her to assist a plot to procure dynamite. Matthew Rhys as the bitter Billy delivers the most passionate, believable performance. Ann Skelly as Beth veers from wooden and expressionless to histrionic overacting with long, boring monologues. Jamie Dornan's Liam is mostly sour and cold-it's hard to work up much interest in his character. Would have preferred him to be more charming and seductive to believe that Beth, who is in her 20s and well educated, would want to do anything to be with him. He looks good, of course, but has absolutely no personality.

With so many first class actors (with the exception of the female lead who was pretty dire throughout and couldn't even manage a Northern Irish accent) this mini series should have been great, but sadly it failed due to too slow pacing and an unsympathetic and unfathomable main character (Beth).

Matthew Rhys and Jamie Dorman were excellent. The period detail was great. It was atmospheric and engaging - up to a point, but really this could easily have been condensed into 1 hour 30 minutes (instead of 3 long hours). Having the main character Beth talking aloud to herself to explain plot points/feelings was clumsy and lazy scriptwriting too, by the third episode the character had lost all believability. A real pity, as this could have succeeded with some major editing and a more skilled female lead.

The plot is very plain. It was painfully slow and empty. I can't recommend it, but I gave 5 stars because the music, the picture and the scenery was quite enjoyable and the characters weren't black and white.

Death and Nightingales really has a lot going for it with an interesting kind of plot and a great cast of actors who are all very present and good in their roles.

But the third episode which is final part of the miniseries manages to unravel the goodwill I felt for the protagonist which is the main reason for the low star rating. The problem is that the other actors Matthew Rhys and Jamie Dornan give many kinds of signs in their expressions and what not that they are redeemable characters. And I did not feel Ann Skelly (though I like her) really had enough motivation for it to make sense to do what she did or for us to root for her. I believe this is probably the fault of the script or the novel it adapts from for the poor decisions Ann Skelly's character makes or her near non existent decision making process. But at any rate Ann Skelly can't quite pull of her character's melodramatic and novelistic morbid way of speaking, probably largely because the rest of the series isn't stylistic like that so it seems acutely peculiar at times.

But otherwise I think at times they almost pull off a hard to pull off story, I mean beyond the failure of episode 3. I think this series did a decent job for what it is. Very atmospheric with a repetitive but fitting soundtrack.

Watch just to enjoy the performances that you can. Enjoy the ride but don't expect much in the way of a meaningful conclusion.

It's good but, the ending is not satisfying. Location and sound mixing 👌

I like to drive. Some drives are peaceful, others not so much. This show is a long, boring drive through a desert on your way to a desert. When you get there, you ask yourself "why did I drive through a desert only to arrive at a desert". Then you slowly lose consciousness due to dehydration and realize that you never should have gotten in the car to begin with. See where I'm going here? You're welcome.

Death and Nightingales is apparently based on a book by 'the greatest Irish novelist you've never heard of', Eugene McCabe. Cartainly I hadn't, but if this is a faithful adaptation, maybe he's got something after all. As bodice-ripping dramas go, there's enough mystery and surpressed passion to give Wuthering Heights or Jamaica Inn a run for its money. Excellent performances from the whole cast, although Michael Smiley was woefully underused in the opening installment. I can only assume he has a bigger role to play yet. I was annoyed to see a schoolboy error in referring to Mercy as Beth in the cast list initially, but happily that has now been corrected! Anyway, to end on a positive note, the atmosphere in this production is fantastic, the Irish scenery is put to superb use in creating the aforementioned, and I was utterly absorbed from start to finish.

... several things work against the program ... it's a very bleak story filmed in extremely dark settings so you can barely distinguish what's going on half the time ... add language dialects unintelligible a majority of the time without the aid of subtitles ... and a story told in three parts that easily could-should have been two.

I really don't mind a slow burner, but this (first episode) was painfully slow paced. Felt self-indulgent, was a relief when it finished.

An excellent and captivating drama. A fascinating exploration of a young woman's plight at the hands of a tempestuous father and exploitative lover who only wishes to use Beth as a means to support Republicanist terror in England. Wonderful dialogue and haunting Irish music creates a chilling atmosphere. Beth is beautiful, vulnerable, brave and enduring and ultimately a symbol of judgement over the wickedness perpetrated by the men she encounters in her tragic life.

Expected more from this. It was so slow, weak base story. And needed closed captioning to understand most of what they were saying. But what really blew it was that WTF ending!? Wasted 3 hours of my day ....

This could have been more pivotal and enticing but it missed the mark. It just became slow and brooding and then just strange and left you with an empty taste. Nothing fulfilling.

Mediocre script, poor direction. It could have been much better.

Skelly, Rhys and Dornan heavily invest in their formal Theater training for a deeply emotional rendition of Eugene McCabe's historical novel of the same name.

The agonizing dialogue will either put one off immediately or serve to capacitate an intense immersive process into the emotional auras of that time.

"Death and Nightingales" mini-series - the best I've seen the past couple of years. Allan Cubitt and his excellent cast made it worth all possible awards.

I enjoyed this movie but if there is only 3 parts and that is it I am disappointed on how they ended it. Is there more?

Ann Skelly really gave such a performance!

I m not for period drama but for her acting itcwas really worth investing time.

It got worse and worse. I was expecting a few leprauchans to appear. An embarrassment of s series. Avoid

Sooooo I LOVE to binge watch shows/movies in general! But when it comes to Romance, Mid-Evil Time, Drama category .....this is in a top category!! I like to of course, find a show I can watch season to season....& THIS IS THE ONE! But.....at the mean time there is only one season. But on a serious matter...its a MUST SEE(:

At first I thought maybe it was just slow moving, and that something interesting & uplifting would happen soon .... but it never did. The story was depressing and grim to the very end. It failed to inspire empathy even for the abused main character since she was cold and frankly, a little odd. All the other characters were predictable and one-dimensional as well. Only the maid Mercy shows some warmth, but when she behaves unkindly, too, the viewer is left with literally no one to like or admire.

This series was dark, dull and with no redeeming life lesson to justify such an overly-long and painful slog through their miserable lives. Not recommended.

Probably more enjoyable to watch paint dry. Not worth the time or effort of staying up. Very slow-horrendously slow. I cannot finish this series and cannot recommend it.