Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace is one of those books that everyone should read. Blending broad historical narrative with a scrupulous attention to detail, it is truly one of the most stunning literary works in any language, often deeply beloved by those who have braved its length to read it. As such, it must surely present a daunting challenge to any production team courageous enough to attempt to dramatise it. An eclectic mix of society balls and cavalry charges, young people growing into life and old ones fading out of it, War & Peace encompasses an array of experiences and emotions the splendid wonder of which is perhaps only matched by the way in which Andrew Davies has managed to squeeze even a sample of it into six relatively short episodes.

From the very beginning, an extraordinary scrupulousness ensures the preservation of as much of Tolstoy’s original narrative as possible, at least with regard to the peace-time scenes of Moscow and St. Petersburg society. Unfortunately, the short length of the drama as a whole means that such narrative fidelity begins to feel rather like an obligatory chore, with nuances of character eroded in the desperate attempt to rattle through the story as rapidly as possible. This contraction of events also results in a certain amount of apparently illogical or implausible behaviour throughout the series, such as the impolite intrusion into the conversation of Pierre Bezukhov (Paul Dano) at Anna Pavlovna’s soiree in the first episode. The attempt to rationalise the disorder into a concise narrative arc through the suggestion that Natasha Rostova (Lily James) and Pierre are already attracted to each other from the very start appears similarly clumsy, as it demonstrates a failure to grasp the fundamentally Bildungsroman nature of Tolstoy’s text.

Although the drama does effectively portray the youthful emotional energy that powers through the narrative, it does so through a sexualised portrayal of character that again risks losing much of Tolstoy’s subtlety. Any ambiguity regarding Helene Kuragina’s (Tuppence Middleton) adulterous relationships with Dolokhov (Tom Burke) and Boris Drubetskoy (Aneurin Barnard) is here abandoned through gratuitous visuals, and later Natasha’s impatience for her own ‘ruin’ makes her relationship with Anatole Kuragin (Callum Turner) seem like a simplistic quest for loss of virginity. Whilst Tolstoy’s original is by no means bereft of sexual energy, there is yet an indulgence in these promiscuous aspects of the plot that reflects Andrew Davies’ broader focus upon the romantic elements of the narrative. Indeed, for much of the first four episodes there persists a determined preoccupation with Russian society rather than Russian battles. Aside from a very dramatic cavalry charge (in which, it must be said, Nikolai Rostov’s horse acts quite superbly), and a somewhat undersized Battle of Austerlitz, the only ‘war’ that seems to take place is in drawing rooms, or in the Bezukhovs’ marriage. Nor is this because of any lack of material in the original text; presumably it is simply another casualty of time constraints.

That said, of course, the Battle of Borodino amply compensates in visual splendour for the scarcity of previous conflict. Stunning locations combine with admirable cinematography throughout the series to create the breath-taking world of Napoleonic Russia; but during Borodino it is almost possible to smell the powder from the guns. It is thus still more disappointing that the clipped six-episode format meant that there was hardly any time in which to convey even the barest sense of the complex influences and motivations that produced Napoleon’s famous retreat from Moscow, and which were so lovingly and closely explored by Tolstoy. The simplification of events here not only fails to do justice to the magnitude of the incident, but also produces some interpretations that are simply wrong, as when General Kutuzov is depicted announcing a plan to launch a major attack on the French once they are retreating.

Tolstoy was a historian as well as a novelist, and in War & Peace he constructed something that was meant to be a historical account rather than a novel. By focusing upon human relationships therefore, this dramatization has effectively stunted the original breadth of the narrative. This is most particularly disappointing given the sheer brilliance of most other aspects of the production: the cast is good, the camerawork is excellent, the Russian locations are (as expected) incomparable. Although rather too much time is spent singing – an unusual decision in a dramatization already short on time for character development – the music is also generally good. Sadly, taken altogether, this adaptation is only ever close to brilliant. Although the structure of Tolstoy’s masterpiece is present, there simply isn’t enough space or character development to adequately convey the emotional heart of the original text.

War and Peace was broadcast on the BBC in January and February 2016. The series is now available for purchase on DVD and Blu-ray.