TV series is NOT even close to being as good as the book.
The book is very long, but was worth every minute of reading. In the movie the screenwriter (who plays one of the characters) did a poor job of "rewriting" the book. He did not do Follett book justice.
If done correctly, it could have been better than Game of Thrones.
I read the book in the late 90s and never knew until recently that it had been done as a made for TV movie. I thought they did an excellent job and really enjoyed it. Even though it had been over 25 years since I read the book, so much came back to me as I watched the movie.
I love this series. My wife read the book and raves about it, but honestly, when I began reading it, I thought it was poorly written and couldn't get beyond the first few pages. But this dramatic presentation of the story is EXCELLENT.
Great actors and scenery. Some changes in the story, as it was written in the book, but overall, it wraps up nicely with the expected “poetic justice” on certain characters and situations. I would recommend reading the book first because there is so much of a story (about 1000 pages) condensed into the 8 episodes.