The Pillars of the Earth

Name: The Pillars of the Earth
Genre: Drama
Rating: 8
Cast: Robert Bathurst, Donald Sutherland, Matthew Macfadyen, Rufus Sewell, Ian McShane

The Pillars of the Earth (2010)

Seasons: 1, episodes: 8

Average rating: 8/10 68 582

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8/10
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Everything about the series

Video 0

Photo 16

Actors and characters

Series poster "The Pillars of the Earth"

Photo 16

Premiere

2010-07-23

Last episode

2010-08-27

Status

Ended

Country

Canada, Germany, United States, United Kingdom

Network

STARZ

Production

CBC, The Movie Network, Muse Entertainment, Tandem Communications, Movie Central Network, Scott Free Productions, Starz Entertainment

Genre

Drama

Website

http://www.the-pillars-of-the-earth.tv/

Creators

Sergio Mimica-Gezzan

Actors

Robert Bathurst, Donald Sutherland, Matthew Macfadyen, Rufus Sewell, Ian McShane, Eddie Redmayne, Natalia Wörner, Hayley Atwell, David Oakes, Tony Curran
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Ken Follett, John Pielmeier

Producer

Adam Goodman, John Ryan, Howard Ellis, Rola Bauer, Tony Scott, David A. Rosemont, Tim Halkin, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Jonas Bauer

Camera operator

Attila Szalay

Composer

Editing

Richard Comeau, Sylvain Lebel
Whole Team (72)

Short description

A sweeping epic of good and evil, treachery and intrigue, violence and beauty, a sensuous, spirited story set against a backdrop of war, religious strife and power struggles in 12th Century England.

Seasons

Season	Episodes	Release date	Rating
Miniseries	8	2010-07-23	6.7

What's left behind the scenes

Filming took place in Austria and Hungary starting in 2009.
The mini-series is based on Ken Follett's novel 'The Pillars of the Earth' (1989).
In 1133, Matilda gave birth to a son who became King Henry II of England in 1154. Henry I died on December 1, 1135, in Normandy, where he had gone after the birth of his grandson in August 1133; he spent the final years of his life there, unable to return to England due to unrest among local barons inspired by his son-in-law and daughter. The cause of the king's death was a short illness, presumably resulting from lamprey poisoning.
At the time of the death of William (1120), the son and legitimate heir of Henry I, Matilda was 18 years old and was in Germany as the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.
The White Ship, on which the prince perished, did not burn at sea off the coast of England, but rather struck a rock in the darkness while exiting the Seine and sank. William may have managed to use a boat, but while attempting to save his illegitimate sister, Matilda of Perche, and other courtiers, his boat also crashed and sank. Of everyone on board, only one person survived—Berold (a butcher from Rouen, not a minstrel from Cherbourg), who reported the loss of the ship.
William's wife, Matilda of Anjou, was not pregnant and did not perish with him; instead, she returned to France, where she entered a convent.
In effect, Matilda could have ascended the throne after the death of Henry I. Indeed, Henry had demanded an oath of loyalty from the aristocrats for this very purpose. However, she lacked the support of the English nobility. Reasons for this included the fact that she had lived in Germany since 1111, having been sent to the court of her fiancé for her upbringing, and thus had virtually no personal connections. Furthermore, according to contemporaries, she possessed an extremely unpleasant character: she was haughty, arrogant, demanded unconditional obedience to her orders, and treated common people with contempt, which did not help her popularity in her homeland. Additionally, there were no precedents for a female reign in either England or Normandy, and the English nobles were unwilling to see a woman on the English throne.