''Arabian Nights'' is a two-part 2000

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

, adapted by Peter Barnes from Sir Richard Francis Burton's translation of the medieval epic ''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition ( ...

''. Mili Avital and Dougray Scott star as

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major character and the storyteller in the frame story, frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade ...

and Shahryar respectively. Produced by Dyson Lovell and directed by

Steve Barron Steven Barron (born 4 May 1956) is an Irish-British filmmaker and music video director. Among the music videos he has directed are "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, " Burning Up (Madonna song), Burnin Up" by Madonna, "Summer of '69" and "Run t ...

, the serial was produced by Hallmark Entertainment and originally broadcast over two nights on 30 April and 1 May 2000 on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and ABC in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The series consists of five stories from ''

'', which are framed within a sixth, maintaining the traditional style of '' stories within stories'' that is synonymous with the ''Nights''. The series cast includes

Alan Bates Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the Cinema of the United Kingdom#The 1960s, 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from ''Whistle Down the Wind (film), Whistle Down ...

Rufus Sewell Rufus Frederik Sewell (; born 29 October 1967) is a British actor. In film, he has appeared in ''Carrington (film), Carrington'' (1995), ''Hamlet (1996 film), Hamlet'' (1996), ''Dangerous Beauty'' (1998), ''Dark City (1998 film), Dark City'' (1 ...

Andy Serkis Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in ''The Lo ...

James Frain James Frain is an English actor. His best known television roles include Thomas Cromwell in the Showtime/CBC historical drama ''The Tudors'' (2007–2009), Franklin Mott in the HBO drama ''True Blood'' (2010), Warwick the Kingmaker in the BB ...

John Leguizamo John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (, ; ; born July 22, 1960 or 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and film producer. He has appeared in more than 100 films, produced more than 20 films and documentaries, made more than 30 televisio ...

(in a dual role), Jason Scott Lee, Vanessa-Mae,

Alexei Sayle Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th g ...

, Jim Carter,

James Callis James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is an English actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series), Battlestar Galactica'' miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones' best ...

, and Oded Fehr.

Synopsis

Frame story

The series starts in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

at an undetermined time. Shahryar, Sultan of Baghdad, has gone mad after accidentally killing his treacherous wife five years earlier during a failed

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

, which his wife had planned with her secret lover, Shahryar's brother Schahzenan. In his madness, Shahryar now believes that all women want to kill him, but the law states that the Sultan must be married again or the throne will be passed to his brother. Shahryar has therefore ordered his

Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Ja'Far to bring him one of his concubines from the harem to marry and then have

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

the next morning. In order to prevent this, the

's clever daughter

decides to marry the Sultan herself; Scheherazade (a childhood friend of the Sultan who has secretly fallen in love with him since then) formulates a plan to prevent her execution, and at the same time cure the Sultan of his madness. With the help of some tutoring from a

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

storyteller, Scheherazade (an already-avid lover of stories and of the lessons they can teach) tells the Sultan a story every night, stopping at dawn with a

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious situation, facing a difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction or bef ...

, and then refusing to continue until dusk. Shahryar must therefore let Scheherazade live for another day in order to hear the rest of the story. Cunningly, Scheherazade has hidden a

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. ...

within every story, to help coax the Sultan out of his madness. Meanwhile, Schahzenan learns about the Sultan's madness and that he is unable to execute his new wife. Perceiving this as weakness, Schahzenan decides to lead his army to

in an attempt to take the throne by force. However, by the time Schahzenan's army reaches the city, Scheherazade's plan has worked. As a result of her stories, Shahryar has overcome his madness and has fallen in love with Scheherazade. Using strategies inspired from elements from the stories, Shahryar is able to defeat his brother's army. At the end of the battle, it is revealed that all that had been seen was a story itself, recounted by Scheherazade to her children. The series ends with Scheherazade promising to tell her children another story tomorrow night.

Scheherazade's stories

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

The first story told by Scheherazade is that of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

Ali Baba "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" () is a folk tale in Arabic added to the ''One Thousand and One Nights'' in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard it from Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab. As one of the most popu ...

is a poor peasant from

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

who finds a magical cave where the loot is stolen by the Forty Thieves, a tribe of murderous bandits that have plagued the kingdom. Using the magic words " Open Sesame!", Ali enters the cave and takes the treasure. When Ali tells his brother Cassim about the cave, Cassim demands his own share and goes to the cave himself where he is discovered and killed by the leader of the Forty Thieves, the infamous Black Coda. Ali Baba finds Cassim's body hung-up by the Forty Thieves as a warning to others. With the help of his newly hired servant, Morgiana, Ali takes down the body and gives Cassim a lavish funeral. This alerts Black Coda and the Forty Thieves to the fact that Cassim was not alone in taking their treasure. Black Coda discovers that Ali Baba and Morgiana are living in a lubricious estate in

and devises a plan to kill all in the household. The Forty Thieves enter the city hidden in oil barrels which are placed outside Ali's estate where they wait for nightfall. Before they can strike, Morgiana discovers the barrels and rolls them down to the bottom of a hill where the dazed Forty Thieves are arrested (and later hanged) by the city guards, although Black Coda escapes. To celebrate their victory, Ali Baba hosts a feast. Morgiana performs an exotic dance for Ali Baba during which she stabs one of the guests, killing him. She removes the man's false beard, revealing him to be Black Coda. Awed by her loyalty, Ali Baba marries Morgiana.

The Tale of the Poor Hunchback

Faisal, a tailor from

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, designs Morgiana's wedding dress and attends the wedding with his wife Safil. Back in Constantinople, the couple have dinner with Bac-Bac, the Sultan's

hunchback Kyphosis () is an abnormally excessive convex curvature of the spine as it occurs in the thoracic and sacral regions. Abnormal inward concave ''lordotic'' curving of the cervical and lumbar regions of the spine is called lordosis. It can ...

jester A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

, during which Bac-Bac

chokes Choking, also known as foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO), is a phenomenon that occurs when breathing is impeded by a blockage inside of the respiratory tract. An obstruction that prevents oxygen from entering the lungs results in oxygen d ...

on a fishbone and dies. Knowing that he was a favorite of the Sultan, they leave the body on the doorstep of a Jewish physician, Ezra Ben Ezra. Ezra trips over the body in the dark, falls down the stairs and assumes that he killed Bac-Bac in the fall. He drops the body down the chimney of a Chinese neighbor, Hi-Ching. Hi-Ching mistakes the body for a robber, attacks it with

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

and believes that he killed Bac-Bac. He throws the body at a passing drunken Englishman, Jerome, who thinks he is being attacked and beats the body while calling for guards. The guards arrest Jerome for murder. Jerome is put on trial and sentenced to death. Hi-Ching, Ezra and Faisal cannot bear the injustice and confess to killing the hunchback. The Sultan enters the court and, seeing that Bac-Bac's death was an accident, acquits them all and says that the jester would have found the drama amusing.

Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

This story tells the classic tale of

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

, a Chinese thief living in

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

. While fleeing authorities for pick-pocketing, he sees a carriage and blocks its path. The carriage windows open to reveal the beautiful Princess Zubaïda. The two see each other and fall in love. While escaping, Aladdin meets a mysterious African traveler named Mustappa, who claims to have been a friend of Aladdin's father and is willing to pay him a high price to do a 'simple' task. Aladdin agrees and meets Mustappa at the entrance of the Cave of Wonders. Mustappa gives Aladdin a ring, and swears "by Hector's feathers", that Aladdin will not see his wedding day if he betrays Mustappa. Aladdin enters the Cave and walks through a

Terracotta Army The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting him in his aft ...

until he finds the lamp. He races back to the entrance, where Mustappa asks Aladdin to give him the lamp before he helps him out. Aladdin refuses, believing Mustappa will take the lamp and leave him in the cave. Mustappa, enraged, closes the cave's entrance and abandons Aladdin, just as the Terracotta warriors come to life. In desperation, Aladdin rubs Mustappa's ring and summons the neurotic Genie of the Ring who reluctantly frees Aladdin from the cave. Back home with his mother, Aladdin wonders why Mustappa would want a worthless old oil lamp. Rubbing it frees the Lamp

Genie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...

an incredibly powerful and intimidating spirit who can grant Aladdin's wishes. Aladdin and his mother wish to become royalty and for a fortune which they use to buy their way into the

Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word ''court'' may also be app ...

. Aladdin asks the Caliph for Princess Zubaïda's hand in marriage, but he is turned down as the Princess is betrothed to Gulnare, the oafish son of the Caliph's

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

. Aladdin discovers that the Princess is in love with him and using the Lamp Genie, he is able to humiliate Zubaïda's betrothed on their wedding night to prevent the marriage from being consummated, by trapping the vizier's son in a foul-smelling privy, and then marry the Princess himself after her furious father annuls the marriage. In Africa, Mustappa realizes that Aladdin is alive and has married as his pet raven, Hector, loses all his feathers. Mustappa goes to Samarkand dressed as a merchant trading new lamps for old ones, prompting a servant in Aladdin's palace to give the magic lamp to the Mustappa. Once the lamp comes into Mustappa's possession, he wishes to undo all Aladdin's wealth. Using the Genie of the Ring, Aladdin challenges Mustappa to a fight to the death with their magic. Each Genie transforms into one beast after another, until the Ring Genie is trapped in a giant mousetrap. Although Mustappa appears to have won, Aladdin is still a thief and is able to pick-pocket Mustappa, taking the Lamp and thus stealing his victory. Reunited with his mother and Zubaïda, Aladdin grants both the Genies their freedom, though only the Genie of the Ring accepts the offer.

The Sultan and the Beggar

Sultan Haroun Abraschild, a player of

practical joke A practical joke or prank is a trick played on people, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. The perpetrat ...

s, meets the drunken beggar Amin at a tavern while in disguise. Amin brags that he could do a better job as Sultan and then passes out. Haroun takes him to the palace and has him shaved, cleaned and laid in his bedchamber. When Amin awakens bewildered, Haroun's chief advisors tell Amin that he is Sultan Haroun. Amin's initial shock fades as he enjoys the palace's comforts. The advisors accompany him to court, where the pretense continues with Haroun watching the charade giddily from hiding places. Amin orders sweeping policy changes, leading the Grand Vizier to remark that Haroun had not done as much in years. Haroun sneers jealously and has Amin drugged before returning him to the streets as a beggar, where he is taken for mad and imprisoned. Some time later Haroun decides to repeat the joke. This time Amin hears Haroun laughing from his hiding place, believes it is a

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

, and stabs him through the wall. The advisors decide to keep his death a secret and recognize Amin as the Sultan to avoid a civil war. At the end of the story, as his brother's army approaches

, Sultan Shahryar realizes he is in love with Scheherazade and has been cured of his madness, but Scheherazade feels Shahryar needs to hear one more story before he goes into battle.

The Three Princes

The last story told by Scheherazade is about the sons of the long-suffering Sultan of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

: Prince Ali, Prince Ahmed, and Prince Hussain. The three are each gifted fighters and fight each other over the smallest of matters. Both their parents believe that when the Sultan dies, the sons will fight each other for the throne and will destroy the kingdom. After causing chaos in the city by fighting over a Princess, their father challenges each of his sons to bring him what they believe is the most precious object in the world, giving them one year to complete their quest. Ali heads north to a brazen kingdom and finds a powerful telescope. Ahmed travels east to a mountain Buddhist monastery which possess a mystic apple (the Apple of Life), which when eaten can heal any wound or illness and earns it when he passes a secret test of character. The last brother, Hussain, travels west to the underground city of

Petra Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...

. He wanders through the underground market looking for the most precious thing in the world, eventually finding a flying carpet. The journeys of the brothers take up the given year, and all three meet at the Traveller's Rest. Ali's telescope reveals that their father is on his deathbed. The brothers race back to Yemen on Hussain's carpet to save their father with Ahmed's apple of life. Scheherazade explains that as a result of their adventures, when the brothers eventually succeed their father, they rule the kingdom together in peace and harmony.

Cast

* Mili Avital as

* Dougray Scott as Shahryar and Amin the Beggar *

as The Storyteller *

as Schahzenan and Sultan Haroun Abraschild (character based on the historical Caliph

Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...

) * Peter Guinness as The Chief Executioner * Jason Scott Lee as

* Pik-Sen Lim as Aladdin's Mother *

as The Genie of the Lamp and The Genie of the Ring * Vanessa-Mae as Princess Zubaïda *

Hugh Quarshie Hugh Anthony Quarshie (born 22 December 1954) is a Ghanaian-born British actor. He is known for his long-running role as Ric Griffin on the BBC One medical drama ''Holby City'' (2001–20), and for playing Captain Panaka in the ''Star Wars'' ...

as Mustappa * Jim Carter as Ja'Far *

Amira Casar Amira Casar is a French-British film actress. She was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress for the 1997 film ''La Vérité si je mens !, La Vérité si je mens!'' and also for the Palme d'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival for ...

as Morgiana *

Tchéky Karyo Tchéky Karyo (; born Baruh Djaki Karyo; 4 October 1953) is a Turkish-born French actor and musician. Beginning his career as an actor on stage in classical and contemporary works, he began to work as a character actor in films in the 1980s. He h ...

as Black Coda *

as Kasim *

Alexis Conran Alexis Conran is a British actor, writer and presenter on TV and radio, who currently hosts the weekend afternoon show on Times Radio and a number of consumer advice programmes for 5. He is also known for co-hosting the BBC Three show '' The R ...

as Prince Ali *

as Prince Ahmed * Hari Dhillon as Prince Hussain *

as BacBac * Ayesha Dharker as Coral Lips *

John Hallam John William Francis Hallam (28 October 1941 – 14 November 2006) was a character actor from Northern Ireland, who frequently played hard men or military types. Early life John Hallam was born, the son of a superintendent at the Port o ...

as Demon * Jamila Massey as Safil *

Nadim Sawalha Nadim Joakim Sawalha () (born 9 September 1935) is a Jordanian-British actor. He has made over 100 appearances in film and television, in a career spanning more than 40 years, which include two James Bond films, '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977) ...

as Judge Zadic * Leon Lissek as Dr. Ezra * Junix Inocian as Hi-Ching * Stanley Lebor as Faisal * Jane Lapotaire as Miriam * Stefan Kalipha as Abu Nouz *

Benedict Wong Benedict Wong (born 3 July 1971) is an English actor. He began his career on stage before starring in the film '' Dirty Pretty Things'' (2002), which earned him a British Independent Film Award nomination, and the BBC sitcom '' 15 Storeys High ...

as Hassan * Inday Ba as Heart's Delight * Melanie Gutteridge as Fair Face * Burt Kwouk as Kaliph Beder * Henry Goodman as Sultan Billah * Tony Osoba as Sultan Badr Al-Din * Roger Hammond as Jerome Gribben *

Kulvinder Ghir Kulvinder Ghir is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is best known as one of the cast members in the sketch show '' Goodness Gracious Me'' (1998–2015). He is also known for playing Aslam in the Yorkshire-based film '' Rita, Sue and Bob ...

as Ali's Servant *

David Yip David Nicholas Yip ( zh, t=葉西園, p=Yè Xīyuán; born 4 June 1951) is a British actor and playwright. He gained prominence through his role in the BBC series '' The Chinese Detective'' (1981–1982) as the first Chinese lead on British tel ...

as Assad * Don Warrington as Hari Ben Karim * Cyril Nri as Schaca * Adrian Pang as Gulnare * Oded Fehr as Robber #2 * Peter Bayliss as 1st Physician * Hassani Shapi as 1st Army Captain

Filming

Locations

Arabian Nights was filmed on location in Turkey and Morocco and at Antalya Film Studios, Turkey.

Critical reception

'' Variety'' wrote "Lush, lavish and longer than necessary, ABC’s “Arabian Nights” is definitely an appealing spectacle but overly sluggish in too many places"; whereas ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' wrote "Gracefully directed and lavishly mounted, this delicious adaptation bears the earmarks of a sturdy classic."

Honors and awards

References

External links

* *
''Arabian Nights''
at RHI Entertainment {{DEFAULTSORT:Arabian Nights (Tv Miniseries) 2000 American television series debuts 2000 American television series endings 2000 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings 2000s American television miniseries 2000s British television miniseries American adventure drama television series American fantasy drama television series British adventure television series British fantasy drama television series Costume drama television series Emmy Award–winning programs Epic television series Hallmark miniseries Television shows about genies Sonar Entertainment miniseries Television series set in the 8th century Television series set in the 17th century Television shows based on fairy tales Television shows set in Iraq Television shows set in Istanbul Television shows set in Syria Television shows set in Yemen Television series based on One Thousand and One Nights Cultural depictions of Harun al-Rashid