Set in Edwardian England, the miniseries follows journalist George and his wife Amy, who works as an assistant to local scientist Ogilvy, as they start a life together in the town of Woking in defiance of British society, due, as the viewer soon learns, to the fact that George is married, but his wife is not willing to allow divorce. They suddenly must face the escalating terror of an invasion of Britain, and possibly the whole planet Earth, from Mars, while also fighting for their very lives against an unstoppable enemy beyond humanity's comprehension.
The War of the Worlds was first announced in December 2015, with the BBC confirming production of the series in May 2017. The series is produced by Mammoth Screen for the BBC, co-produced with Creasun Media, in association with Red Square. Writer Peter Harness expanded the role of the narrator's wife, stating "I think the clearest choice that I made from the start of this project was to give the male character a wife who had strength of character in her own right It was very important to me to make the female character three-dimensional". The series was directed by Craig Viveiros, produced by Betsan Morris Evans, executive produced by Damien Timmer, Preethi Mavahalli, Peter Harness and Viveiros from Mammoth Screen, Tommy Bulfin from the BBC, Minglu Ma from Creasun and Jamie Brown from Red Square. The interpretation makes use of time shifting forwards and backwards in the timeline in order to "throw in a clever touch of time-shifting into the narrative to upend audience expectations".
The first footage from the BBC miniseries appeared in July 2018, followed by trailers in January 2019, with the first, longer trailer for the drama being released in September 2019.
Broadcast
The miniseries was released in the UK in three weekly episodes. Originally set to premiere in the UK during Christmas 2018, The War of the Worlds actually premiered in Canada on T+E between 6 and 20 October 2019. It was also broadcast in two parts instead of three on New Zealand's TVNZ 1 between 13 and 20 October 2019. Mammoth Screen announced in September 2019 that the miniseries was expected to be released in the UK in late 2019; the first episode had its UK premiere on 17 November 2019. ITV Studios Global Entertainment is responsible for the international distribution of The War of the Worlds miniseries. It has been sold to major European countries and African territories.
Critical reception
The War of the Worlds has received mixed reviews from critics. The miniseries holds a 67% approval rating at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 21 critic reviews. The site's consensus reads "Respectful, if not exactly riveting, Craig Viveiros' reimagined The War of the Worldss wandering narrative undermines its strong performances". The Guardian gave the miniseries four stars, deeming it 'solid and reliable' drama, but criticised the plot's pacing, stating it had a 'lack of urgency'. The Independent gave it three stars, commending the performance and special effects, but complained about its attempts to speak to contemporary political issues. The Telegraph gave the first episode two stars and criticised it for appearing low budget and the performances by Tomlinson and Spall. The Irish Independent was unfavourable to the first episode and called it a 'massive disappointment'. The Telegraph was more negative towards the second episode, giving it one star. The Independent was more negative towards the third episode, giving it two stars, stating "The real war is not about martians, but the perceived liberal perceptions of a 2019 audience."
