Ranking Every HBO Miniseries From Worst To Best

HBO’s first true miniseries (directly created by the network) was this ambitious but ultimately not entirely successful adaptation of M. M. Kaye’s epic novel. It had (for the time) an immense budget, a cast of genuine pedigree including Christopher Lee and Omar Sharif, and the lofty aim to accurately bring Kaye’s writing to the screen.

It’s the latter part that let The Far Pavilions down. The 1978 novel tells the tale of a British soldier’s voyage across India. At 1,000 pages long, there’s little left to the imagination, and at five hours and change, the miniseries can feel similarly laborious.

The scenery is beautiful, the acting of a standard seldom seen on TV at the time, but the stately pace of the production can’t help but feel antiquated when viewed through modern eyes. As the money had already been spent, they obviously felt obliged to use it all, but sadly high production values don’t always add up to great drama.