The Jewel in the Crown

I really loved this series. I think I've seen the whole series about 7 or 8 times, and I see something new each time.

The Jewel in the Crown tells the story of individual people trying to live their lives in a world in the process of changing beyond recognition. The acting quality and execution of the entire production has never been equaled. You really believe that these people lived in this extraordinary time, the beginning of the end of the British Empire. Some are able to move forward into the new world, some are destroyed, and all are changed forever.

I actually think that the series is better than the sum of the books, but nothing beats the first book in the series (The Jewel in the Crown) as a stand-alone novel. It's all about human perspective. Similar to the film Rashomon (or Courage Under Fire), the novel Jewel in the Crown tells a story from every point of view except one. You have to think about what that means. The series captures this effect differently, but it does so beautifully.