Should I Check This Out - The Musketeers episode 1

So Sherlock has ended after it's great three episode season, leaving the BBC with an empty time slot in their schedule. What now? Do they drop in a factual show or something new? That something new turns out to be a new series based on Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers, titled The Musketeers.

Now this is well known material about the adventures of D'Artagan as he joins the musketeers named Athos, Aramis and Porthos but the show generally does a good job to keep things entertaining, even if it is a little short of surprises. The episode starts with D'Artagan's father being murdered by a man under the name of Athos. From there it becomes a quest for revenge, leading him to meet the three musketeers and the plot goes from there.

Generally the story managed to move swiftly, cutting between our four heroes and a sinister Peter Capaldi as the Cardinal. The action is fast and entertaining and the plot remains easy to follow, even if you're not fully engaged, but then there is the show's major problem; it's not all that engaging. What's onscreen has been done before and the show doesn't seem to be doing anything radically different.

There isn't the budget to go as crazy as Paul W.S. Anderson's entertaining but ultimately average version of The Three Musketeers back in 2011 and the script isn't all that original. Sherlock managed to distinguish himself from other interpretations but there's a good chance this will end up as just another adaptation and nothing new, which is a shame given a decent cast and fantastic production values. Standing out among the crowd is Porthos played by Howard Charles who injects a healthy amount of charisma into his role, firing up some chemistry between himself and his fellow musketeers.

Overall episode one was entertaining, but certainly a step down from the dizzying highs of Sherlock. Lacking a certain edge, the show will certainly pass for Sunday evening viewing but I hope the show will push itself beyond the typical character archetypes we've become used to time and time again in television.