What fictional/historical epic should be filmed...

[irocfan]

I think that Game of Thrones, Vikings, The Last Kingdom and Chernobyl (among many others) has shown that people have an appetite for good, well written historical (or historical with roots) drama, somehow however the take-up seems to have been patchy.

What (semi)historical event should be given the full big budget treatment?

I'd love to see The Song of Roland, the Siege of Vienna and Anabasis/The 10,000. Absolutely epic potential

[StevieBee]

Along the same lines of Chernobyl, I've thought that the Bhopal disaster could make for an interesting dramatisation. I think they have made something but not to the scale and quality of Chernobyl.

[LukeBrown66]

There are so many linked to war.

The Germany and Russia thing in the snow during WW2 is surely one of the most staggering things in recent history. Great tv potential.

I know little of the Korean war, despite watching most war epics, so that is an untapped area I think aswell.

Ad in more recent times, things like Kosovo, the break up of the Soviet union, Tibet, Mugabe, all these things are fascinating topics.

[Dr Jekyll]

The Russian revolutions. We've had plenty about the rise of Hitler but very little about Lenin and co. Many people still think the bolsheviks overthrew the Czar rather than a more or less elected government.

[biggbn]

I'd like to see a Historical epic showing Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun and Alexander the Great. Spanning centuries but it would show the impact these men had on the world.

[MikeyC]

My 'vote' would be for Christine Granville (real name Krystyna Skarbek) and her adventures in WW2 (she was an SOE agent).

Beeb 'Great Lives' podcast here is worth a listen - an amazing woman !

[Halmyre]

LukeBrown66 said:

There are so many linked to war.

The Germany and Russia thing in the snow during WW2 is surely one of the most staggering things in recent history. Great tv potential.

I know little of the Korean war, despite watching most war epics, so that is an untapped area I think aswell.

"Inchon", a film about a Korean War battle. Financed by the Moonies, starred Lawrence Olivier and reckoned to be one of the worst films ever made.

[BritishBlitz87]

I've always felt that the first Anglo-Afgan War would make a great TV series.

It's got it all really, humour, derring-do, betrayal, revenge, and a cast of colourful characters. The escape from Kabul would make some brilliant, if rather harrowing television, and the retribution campaign would be a good dose of fashionable moral ambiguity.

Not to mention the depressing incompetence of the British government. That, sadly, is one of the universal constants of our history

[bucksmanuk]

Mao's Cultural revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution
Not very cultural in my eyes though

[300bhp/ton]

irocfan said:

I think that Game of Thrones, Vikings, The Last Kingdom and Chernobyl (among many others) has shown that people have an appetite for good, well written historical (or historical with roots) drama, somehow however the take-up seems to have been patchy.

What (semi)historical event should be given the full big budget treatment?

I'd love to see The Song of Roland, the Siege of Vienna and Anabasis/The 10,000. Absolutely epic potential

Can GoT really be called "historical"? Surely it is epic fantasy.

[Zirconia]

I understood that game of thrones was part influenced by the English civil wars?

There is a whole wealth of material there for historical epics. Wars of the Roses start to finish and re creating Towton for example, one of the bloodiest events on UK soil. TV series though, films are never great for such stories.

[300bhp/ton]

Zirconia said:

I understood that game of thrones was part influenced by the English civil wars?

There is a whole wealth of material there for historical epics. Wars of the Roses start to finish and re creating Towton for example, one of the bloodiest events on UK soil. TV series though, films are never great for such stories.

Influenced isn't really the same thing as being historical though

[Dr Jekyll]

Zirconia said:

I understood that game of thrones was part influenced by the English civil wars?

Only in the sense that Star Wars was influenced by the Dambusters raid.

[Paul Dishman]

BritishBlitz87 said:

I've always felt that the first Anglo-Afgan War would make a great TV series.

It's got it all really, humour, derring-do, betrayal, revenge, and a cast of colourful characters. The escape from Kabul would make some brilliant, if rather harrowing television, and the retribution campaign would be a good dose of fashionable moral ambiguity.

Not to mention the depressing incompetence of the British government. That, sadly, is one of the universal constants of our history

That was pretty much covered in an early Flashman novel

[Zirconia]

300bhp/ton said:

Zirconia said:

I understood that game of thrones was part influenced by the English civil wars?

There is a whole wealth of material there for historical epics. Wars of the Roses start to finish and re creating Towton for example, one of the bloodiest events on UK soil. TV series though, films are never great for such stories.

Influenced isn't really the same thing as being historical though

Yeah I know, which is why do the real thing. I read the first book in Game of Thrones and decided it was cack, struggled to get to the end. Never saw the TV series and never will.

[page3]

I thought Wolf Hall was excellent. Still waiting for season two!

Didn’t think much of any of the ones you listed to be honest.

[A Winner Is You]

Battle of Britain, so many stories that could be told and if used properly cgi could make for some great dogfights, if they resist the standard temptation to use video game physics.

[Cocknose]

Zirconia said:

I understood that game of thrones was part influenced by the English civil wars?

There is a whole wealth of material there for historical epics. Wars of the Roses start to finish and re creating Towton for example, one of the bloodiest events on UK soil. TV series though, films are never great for such stories.

To see Towton recreated well would be absolutely amazing. Along similar lines, the Agincourt campaign culminating in the battle would be worth watching.

[Starfighter]

biggbn said:

I'd like to see a Historical epic showing Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun and Alexander the Great. Spanning centuries but it would show the impact these men had on the world.

In the absence of any decent films try these books
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conqueror_(novel_s...
Or these podcasts
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history...

[Halmyre]

BritishBlitz87 said:

I've always felt that the first Anglo-Afgan War would make a great TV series.

It's got it all really, humour, derring-do, betrayal, revenge, and a cast of colourful characters. The escape from Kabul would make some brilliant, if rather harrowing television, and the retribution campaign would be a good dose of fashionable moral ambiguity.

Not to mention the depressing incompetence of the British government. That, sadly, is one of the universal constants of our history

Carry On Up The Khyber has probably put paid to any serious treatment of that era.