My love for the miniseries format is one that has been well documented in this space. I cannot get enough of them, and it isn’t just the low commitment that it requires which draws me to them. A well-made miniseries is the perfect hybrid of film and serial episodes. It combines the well-defined storyline of a movie with the steady, more fulfilling pace of storytelling that multiple episodes allow.
The slow burn of the miniseries allows characters to shine, and for the audience to develop a greater understanding of, and attachment with them, making the format perfect for novel adaptations. Olive Kitteridge , the Emmy award-winning miniseries about a cynical American schoolteacher, was based on the novel by Elizabeth Strout. The recently-released and phenomenally successful miniseries, The Night Manager , was adapted from the novel of the same name that was written by the master of espionage, John le Carre. Both the miniseries, with their intense screenplay and masterful acting performances, were an accomplishment in televised storytelling.
Another miniseries that I couldn’t stop raving about was Wolf Hall . It too was named after the novel (by Hilary Mantel), but the story was a dramatised version of actual events which took place in the 16th Century, known as ‘The King’s Great Matter’, which today stands immortalised by the Traitor’s Gate in the Tower of London. ThePeople v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story is another miniseries which took on a real-life incident: the much-publicised trial of O.J. Simpson, a sports superstar and actor, who was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and a restaurant waiter, Ron Goldman.
All these had actors of immense calibre put together on the same screen, for the miniseries format allows them to explore stronger, deeper characters with more nuance, and directors to take on stories that are more complex and can’t be contained in a time frame of a few hours. ThePeople v. O.J. Simpson managed to lure in the likes of John Travolta, Cuba Gooding Jr., and David Schwimmer. The Night Manager had Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston. Hiddleston’s portrayal of the spy, Jonathan Pine, was so successful that it sparked rumours across the U.K. of him being cast as the next James Bond.
Wolf Hall had Mark Rylance, (who went on to star in Spielberg’s celebrated film, Bridge of Spies , and win an Academy award for it) and Damian Lewis. The more recently-released thriller about an immigrant who is jailed for the murder of a girl in New York City, The Night Of , was written by Steven Zaillian, who has worked on movies like Schindler’s List , and Gangs of New York , among others. For all the hype surrounding them through these years — Meryl Streep and Al Pacino made a miniseries way back in 2003 called Angels in America for HBO — the miniseries is only now finding its way into Indian television. If you don’t have the time for a full-fledged television series and all its characters, I recommend you embrace the miniseries with both arms. It’s the best way to experience not only modern television, but also the power that a good story can have on you.
( ThePeople v. O.J. Simpson , The Night Of are available on HotStar. Angels in America premieres today on Star World Premiere HD.)
