Labyrinth (miniseries)

Labyrinth

DVD cover
Genre Historical
Based on Labyrinth 
by Kate Mosse
Screenplay by Adrian Hodges
Directed by Christopher Smith
Starring
Theme music composer Trevor Jones
Country of origin
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 2
Production
Producer(s) Executive producers:
Tim Halkin
Liza Marshall
Rola Bauer
Jonas Bauer
Adrian Hodges
Producers:
Moritz Polter
Christopher Hall
Running time 180 min
Production company(s)
Distributor Tandem Communications
Budget 20 Mil. USD
Release
Original network
Original release 2012
External links
Website

Labyrinth is a historical television miniseries based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Kate Mosse. The setting jumps between modern and medieval France and follows two women (played by Vanessa Kirby and Jessica Brown Findlay) who are searching for the Holy Grail. Other cast members include Katie McGrath, Tom Felton, Sebastian Stan, Emun Elliott, Tony Curran, and John Hurt. Adrian Hodges adapted the novel for the series, which was directed by Christopher Smith.

A German-South African co-production, the two-part series was filmed on location in the medieval town of Carcassonne in southwest France and Cape Town, South Africa. The executive producers were Tim Halkin, Liza Marshall, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Rola Bauer, Jonas Bauer, and Hodges.

The series aired in Canada, Korea, Poland and Portugal in autumn 2012, in Sweden in December 2012, the UK in March 2013, the U.S. in May 2014, and was set to air in Austria and Germany early 2013. The running time was originally announced, and is still stated on the official website, as being "four hours". However, the broadcast version only runs for three hours.

Overview

The series follows two women—medieval Alaïs Pelletier du Mas (Jessica Brown Findlay), who lives through the Crusades and Cathar massacres in medieval France, and modern-day Alice Tanner (Vanessa Kirby)—in their quest to find the Holy Grail.[1] Alice, a volunteer at a French archaeological excavation, discovers the skeletal remains of two people in a cave, as well as a labyrinth-engraved ring, which attracts the attention of unscrupulous individuals. In 1209, newly married Alaïs is living in Carcassonne, a stronghold of Cathars who have been declared heretical by the Church. Alaïs and her father are protecting three sacred books from the Crusaders that reveal the secret of the Holy Grail.[2][3]

Cast and characters

Production

Background

The novel Labyrinth was written by English author Kate Mosse and published in 2005. It was the best-selling fiction title in 2006 in the United Kingdom and reached The New York Times bestseller list. The novel has also been translated and published in 38 languages worldwide.[4]

Development

Variety reported in March 2011 that Ridley Scott was developing a television adaptation of Labyrinth.[1] The production is a collaboration between Scott's Scott Free production company, Tandem Communications (Germany), and Film Afrika Worldwide (South Africa), and in association with Universal Production Partners (Czech Republic).[5] It is considered a German-South African co-production.[4][5] Scott Free and Tandem previously collaborated on the miniseries The Pillars of the Earth.[5] The screenplay was adapted by Adrian Hodges.[5] Christopher Smith was signed on to direct.[6]

Filming began October 10, 2011, in the medieval town of Carcassonne, southwest France, before moving to Cape Town, South Africa in December.[4][5] Production designer Tom Hannam recreated parts of Carcassonne at Cape Town Film Studios.[4] The set created for the series has been kept as a permanent structure at the studio. The cinematographer is Australian Robert Humphreys[4]

The series has a total running time of 180 minutes and is split in two parts.[5]

Broadcast

In the fall of 2012, the series aired on Showcase in Canada, AXN in Korea, TVCine in Portugal, and Canal + Film in Poland.[7][8] It aired on Sat.1 in Germany, Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, 6ter in France, Telecinco in Spain, on 27 January 2013 on SOHO in Australia and ORF in Austria during 2013, on 25/26 March 2013 in Denmark on the DR1 TV station, and aired as a two-night event on May 22/23, 2014 in the United States on The CW. It came back to U.S. television on Wednesday, December 23, 2015 as a four-hour-long mini-series on SyFy. Labyrinth is distributed by Tandem worldwide.[5]

References

External links

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