The Dovekeepers is a two-part television adaptation of on the 2011 novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman. It features a fictionalized account of the Siege of Masada by troops of the Roman Empire towards the end of the First Jewish–Roman War. The program premiered in the United States on March 31, 2015 on CBS.
Contents
Plot
According to the official trailer, From the producers of The Bible, comes the story of a place called Masada, where three extraordinary women faced an army of thousands. A healer accused of witchcraft. An outcast haunted by her past. A woman with the heart of a warrior.
The trailer featured the tagline, "Their journey. Their passion. It all leads up to this. Take a stand."
Main cast
Cote de Pablo as Shirah
Rachel Brosnahan as Yael
Kathryn Prescott as Aziza
Diego Boneta as Amram
Sam Neill as Flavius Josephus
Mido Hamada as Eleazar ben Ya'ir
Sam Hazeldine as Flavius Silva
Jonas Armstrong as Yoav
Luke Roberts as Jachim Ben Simon
Fiona O'Shaughnessy as Channa
Andrei Claude as Sa' Adollos
Kenneth Spiteri as Claudius
Diarmaid Murtagh as Wynn
Manuel Cauchi as Josef Bar Elhanan
Andre Agius as Adir
Marama Corlett as Sia
Reception
The adaptation garnered negative reviews: Keith Uhlich of The Hollywood Reporter writes "True to its title, this romantic-historical miniseries is more fowl than fair. CBS' two-part adaptation of Alice Hoffman's best-selling novel is a cheap, chintzy adventure." while Brian Lowry of Variety writes "Designed to play as a moving adaptation of Alice Hoffman's bestseller, The Dovekeepers is more of a wounded duck."