DRAMA | H I S DARK MATER I ALS I t’s a truth as old as Hollywood itself that the book is always better than the film. Look at what The Golden Compass (starring Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman) did to Philip Pullman’s first book in the best-selling series of novels, His Dark Materials . It was excised of almost all of the tricky subject matter that doesn’t traditionally go down well in the US – such as the questioning of religion. But, with similar budgets across six hours or more, recent TV adaptations have shown that the transfer from page to screen doesn’t have to disappoint. The first episode of the BBC’s adaptation of His Dark Materials covers the abduction of Gyptian child Billy, the master’s attempt to poison Lord Asriel, Lyra’s discovery of Dust, her acquisition of the alethiometer and her introduction to Mrs Coulter, who asks Lyra to be her assistant. She and Mrs Coulter then take an airship to London to locate the missing Roger, while the Magisterium and its powers thump in the background. It seems fair to say that, so far, the series promises to unfold into a beautiful, brooding vision of Pullman’s universe, without holding back on the book’s anti- theocratic undertone. DOP Justin Brown worked on the series’ first two episodes and felt keen to make
I felt a duty to adapt His Dark Materials in the way I had always imagined it as a kid
Brown says: “For me, working out how to portray anbaric and naphtha, described as candles or fire, was most difficult. The first time you come across anbaric is in the Retiring Room [a room at Jordan College where the master and his scholars retire after a meal]. We posted single-filament lamps that were about 20 inches long around the room; we didn’t want to use table lamps or fitted practicals, because that’s too much like our own world. Tom
amends for the film. Having read all three books as a child, these were the sole basis of his research. He explains: “I didn’t riff off the film. I was so disappointed by it that I felt a duty to adapt it in the way I had always imagined it as a kid. This was something the whole team across each department felt, too.” In the first episode, it’s explained that the series takes place in a world “both like, and unlike, your own”. It’s a steampunkish parallel universe where electricity is referred to as anbaricity. And there is an Oxford with colleges, but the colleges have names like Balliol, Gabriel and Jordan.
IMAGES Stills from the first few episodes of His Dark Materials
14 DEF I N I T ION | DECEMBER 20 1 9
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