I thought today - the TV show I'd really like to see is one about a medieval monastery.
You could have all kinds of characters: the pious guy who joined because he wanted to serve God, the son born out of wedlock sent there to cover up his parents' shame, the geek who wanted to study Latin but couldn't afford to go into university, the former knight sick of violence and afraid for his soul... Plus monasteries were centres of pilgrimage and places where criminals could take refuge, so we can have a lot of characters who crop up for a few episodes and leave.
Some plotlines I thought of:
- Our relics aren't bringing in the pilgrims the way they used to - what do we do?
- A women fleeing an abusive marriage has taken shelter in the monastery - how will the brothers respond to having a women in their midst?
- One of the monks wants to leave - will the abbot accept or not?
- A murderer has taken refuge in the abbey, and the abbot decides to try and save his soul - what will happen?
- People are coming to the monastery for food during the famine, but the monastery is itself short of food - how will this be dealt with?
- War has broken out between two local lords, and the monks attempt to broker a treaty - will it work?
I've already mentioned some reasons why I think this setting would lend itself to television, but I'd also love to make it for two other reasons:
- Get people to understand how weird medieval religion could get, but also that, within its own frame of reference, it was a reasonable and consistent belief system.
- Show people that the Middle Ages consisted of more than just muddy people stabbing each other and burning scientists at the stake.
You have just literally described Cadfael
a 90's BBC procedurial where an up and coming Derek Jacobi is a former Crusader turned monk who solves crimes
VERY historically accurate, with a big focus on the belief systems of the time and practical discussion of world Views
He has to deal with local politics during the Anarchy, wrestle with religious extremism, discusses the seperation between Catholicism and Islam, rival Abbeys, the protection of knowledge in what some percieve as an ignorant world
The entire Series is free on Youtube