Alessandra Stanley of '' The New York Times '' said , " By trying so hard for authenticity , this '' Doctor Zhivago '' drains the story of much of its lyricism ... . Mr. Lean 's grander , glossier version was a closer match to the romantic spirit of the novel 's hero ... . The Davies version is engrossing but more for the harrowing scenes set in the civil war after the revolution than for the novel 's legendary love triangle . Black-and-white archival photographs - Moscow slums , newspaper shots of soldiers marching off to World War I - are interspersed throughout the film and slowly bleed into a scene of the television show . The visual trick gives the series a quasi-documentary feel and is quite effective . Yet Mr. Davies takes the same liberties with Pasternak 's text as the original film did , focusing on the love story and discarding a lot of the politics , secondary plots and literary sidetracks ... . This '' Doctor Zhivago '' can be watched as a useful history lesson and as a cautionary show business tale : it is a lot easier to adapt a Jane Austen novel than it is to remake a film by David Lean . " Brian Lowry of '' Variety '' observed , " Some will rightfully pine for Maurice Jarre 's Oscar-winning score , Julie Christie and Omar Sharif , yet this somewhat less epic take on Boris Pasternak 's book is a creditable version , featuring outstanding performances and considerable romance . And hey , kids , it sure beats reading the Cliffs Notes . " Tom Jicha of the '' South Florida Sun-Sentinel '' called it " a stunning success " and continued , " Davies ' screenplay is involving , the cinematography is captivating , the costuming and set designs evoke a sense of time and place , and the top-of-the-marquee performances are world-class . " He concluded , " '' Doctor Zhivago '' is a hefty production , which demands a four-hour , commercial-free commitment from its audience . But the reward is a richly layered character study and love story , worthy of the franchise under which it airs . " Melanie McFarland of the '' Seattle Post-Intelligencer '' graded the series B and commented it " manages to maintain true to the main story line , streamlining incidental characters to keep the film from becoming too unwieldy , which takes some effort considering the book 's rich language and numerous characters ... . Even so , this version , though a little better paced than the original , is still fairly sluggish . Given the book , perhaps that 's unavoidable . " In the UK , the serial was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Serial but lost to '' Shackleton '' . Giacomo Campiotti was nominated Best New Director and Annie Symons was nominated for Best Costume Design
BAFTA Award for Best Drama Serial
British Academy Television Awards 2003
Doctor Zhivago (miniseries)