User reviews

I have to wonder how it is that this series hasn't resurfaced over the years, either on TV or streaming? I hope it gets another life in the latter. I saw it back in the day, loved it, and have never forgotten it.

I don't remember all the details of the story, but the actors were great and I know the story kept my attention. Now that I'm discussing it again, I'm tempted to read the book (I don't think I have before... I tend to get the title mixed up with Ivanhoe lol). Soon as I finish this review I will go and see if it's available on dvd, this is one that I would love to have in my collection!

I searched for years for this mini-series and lo and behold it popped up on Amazon Prime! Full of derring-do, deceit, treachery and chivalry, it is a BBC swashbuckler that does nor disappoint. Admittedly, the first episode is a little slow, but the pot boils quickly after that! As stated, this is a Sir Walter Scott novel, so Ivanhoe fans will love the twists and turns, deceptions and reveals. Sir Kenneth is as noble and headstrong as Wilfred of Ivanhoe and finds as much action and intrigue. The chapters put one in mind of Doctor Who, along with the BBC soundtrack. It takes place during the Crusades and involves Richard the Lionheart, Saladin and fictional characters woven around them. I doubt it's at all historically accurate, but who cares? Like all good BBC fare, the presentation convinces you that it is living history. It's rousing, old-fashioned fun! Watch it, or by heaven you will rue the day you passed it up!

I came across information on "The Talisman" accidentally. After reading a review of a new blu-ray box set of Carroll Baker's Italian "giallo" movies, I went to IMDb to check on the movies in the collection. At IMBb, there was also other information on Carroll, that she and Russ Tamblyn are the last surviving credited stars of 1962's "How The West Was Won" and that she had retired from movies and was now living in London. She moved there after marrying actor British actor Donald Burton. Looking up Donald Burton on IMDb for some strange OCD reason, I saw he was listed as a star in the 1980 BBC mini-series "The Talisman." Instead of quickly departing the site, I looked up the IMDb rap sheet on the "The Talisman," read the highlighted review, and found out this movie was in Amazon Prime's free movie library. Wow, I have Amazon Prime but I almost never watch any of their free movies. On my computer, trying to watch an Amazon Prime movie doesn't work, I get a message that I have a VPN which the Stasi at Amazon disapprove of. So, I decided to watch the mini-series on my TCL 55" TV, a very fine TV by a Chinese manufacturer that Amazon would approve of, TCL having formerly made portable TVs with clear plastic housings for use by prison inmates. You know, so jailers could see that no contraband was inside the TV. As to this mini-series, "The Talisman" is crap. This BBC production had a near zero budget for stuff like stunt performers, extras, set dressing and retakes. The actors all look like they are waiting on an unemployment office line to sign for their UI checks. One main set, a meeting room, has two big half-circular tables where the nobles sit. At every scene videotaped there, there are the same bowls, some with grapes and others with big salads. Days go by; still the same big salad bowls there. Baker's husband, Donald Burton, plays the Grand Master of the Knights Templar. At one point, he spends five minutes explaining his plan to poison King Richard. Of course, the goblet with the poison later gets knocked down before Richard drinks it. The actor who plays King Richard wears a fright wig and a raggedy beard, which makes him look like a lunatic asylum escapee. Why go on, every actor here is just going through the motions, knowing that the director is an incompetent, the script is a waste of paper and that the BBC is run by greedy imbeciles with family connections. I mean, an abandoned quarry seems to be the main location for much of the outside action. There is a good reason why the 1980 BBC mini-series "The Talisman" is forgotten. This long and dull movie was not worth remembering by most of its viewers.