The scheming cardinal. The stupid King. The swashbuckling. If it feels like we’ve been here before, it’s because we have. Actors as unalike as Charlie Sheen and Matthew Macfadyen have already sported the trademark blue cloaks. Does the BBC’s attempt to fill the Sherlock-sized-hole in their Sunday night schedule succeed in bringing any new ideas to the table?

In a word: no – unless you count the pretty terrible script (although the Macfadyen version wasn’t strong in that department either).

It needn’t have been this way. Peter Capaldi was an inspired choice for Cardinal Richelieu, until it transpired that there’s been no attempt to tailor the role to his skill whatsoever. Furthermore, after the intrigue and treachery of the first episode, the second killed all suspense by forgetting that any conflict between him and musketeers had taken place.

This sense of missed opportunity pervades The Musketeers. I wanted to like the show, back when I thought it would be an enjoyable Sunday night romp through the French countryside, but there’s a whole host of ways in which the series could have gone, especially with talk of gritty story-lines and deep character backstories. The teaser for the latter has been a single allusion to a past romance between two characters. Where’s the originality? Where’s the epic adventure? D’Artagnan’s dad was murdered pre-opening credits of the first episode, and he seemed to have forgotten about it fifteen minutes in, beyond a couple of teenagery outbursts of angst. If the characters don’t even care about their own stories, why should I?

Here’s another question: who on earth is this for? There are certainly enough sexual references to suggest that it was never intended for the pre-watershed crowd, but the truth is that I’ve been spoilt by Game of Thrones and the like: adult entertainment means deep, arching plot lines and actors behaving like real people. Next to HBO’s epic fantasy series, The Musketeers just looks childish.

The props, costumes and fight scenes are generally well done, and there’s the level of visual polish that can be expected of any prime-time BBC drama. It’s just a shame that the sets look more three-dimensional than any of the characters. Perhaps, ten episodes down the line, it’ll all come together.
I won’t be tuning in to find out.