Beyond The TARDIS His Dark Materials by DJ Forrest

 

Written by Philip Pullman and adapted for television by Jack Thorne, His Dark Materials was to go deeper into the characters and much further on than The Golden Compass ever accomplished. 

It has a soundtrack on par with Game of Thrones and even The Crown, and a cast of such magnitude in the television world that there is no room for failure. Such a brilliant performance from young Dafne Keen who plays young Lyra Belacqua, who discovers more than the truth of who her parents are but what they want to achieve in life, and how they go about it. 

The series explores the lives of the people in the story. The Gyptians, and especially Ma Costa, whose young son had been taken by the Gobblers and had been separated from his daemon. It explored his story in more detail, because at the end of the initial film, I hadn't realised what happened to him. This series explored that ending, thoroughly. 

But it wasn't just those in Lyra's world, there was another child, Will from our world who was equally as important, and Carlo Boreal played by Ariyon Bakare who was in a desperate search to find him, because of letters he was sent from his missing presumed dead, father, played by Andrew Scott. 

The Magisterium, who Carlo Boreal worked for, were far more sinister than the original film portrayed. It seemed a very religious organisation, that didn't like new ideas or new inventions and frowned upon the work of Lord Asriel, played by James McAvoy. To be fair, his character role of Asriel was perhaps stronger than the limited version by Daniel Craig in The Golden Compass. There was a darkness with McAvoy that perhaps wasn't there with Bond star Craig, and for that, I'm almost grateful. 

Yet, it was Ruth Wilson as Mrs Coulter who stole the show. Her performance as Lyra's mother was outstanding. She can carry a crazy role like Coulter and add a darker, more twisted soul than Kidman ever could in The Golden Compass, and I'm not being harsh when I say that. Kidman herself can play some real cruel and memorable characters, but Ruth has that almost Woman in Black feel to Coulter. That scream of rage on the other side of the door, with Lyra screaming on the other. Oh my god! Sent shivers down my spine. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda plays Lee Scoresby, and as much as my favourite (at the time) was gravel drawled Sam Elliott, I have to say, that Miranda explores his character in much more depth than the film ever did. 

There are some noticeable differences between the film and the series, however, in the way that The Golden Compass was quick to pace out the film, with action and sequences, and for those of us who hadn't then read the books, and for some of us who still haven't yet, assumed that everything was fine, but as the series shows us, there were some areas that were extended, and some sequences that had been used for another scene and for another part of the story. Such as the narrow icy bridge that Lyra crosses, which in the film was the journey to the shed hiding Billy Costa. The film also didn't explore Billy's future in the way that the series had. It wasn't explored that Billy had a brother, so I fully enjoyed the series that explored the Gyptians and their fight against the Magisterium. 

Lord Asriel's betrayal however, to his daughter, that was probably the hardest part of the story, and so full of emotion. The girl who looks up to the man who she assumes is first her Uncle and then her Dad, and is then horrified to learn of his deed against young Roger Parslow, that was only ever touched upon in the final credits of The Golden Compass. 

But there's a new part of this story that wasn't in the film. What happens beyond Lyra's world? The cut between worlds, where some people are able to step between them as if stepping into another room, such as Carlo in his pursuit for the letters left by Will's Dad, who disappeared, presumed dead after an arctic expedition. You know yourself, that if you're going to use Andrew Scott in a small news excerpt, that you're going to see a lot more of him at a later date. 

Series 2 explores Will's World, who we're introduced to in Series 1. A young teenage boy who is looking after his Mum, who suffers from extreme anxieties, especially those surrounding her husband and people who would want to find out what happened to him. 

The interesting thing regarding this entire series, is the amount of cast from Doctor Who. For much of the episode regarding Roger, I was certain I'd seen him before, and in much the same way as the original Roger from the film had been in Torchwood, Lewin Lloyd had been in Doctor Who, and after getting all excited after seeing Nina Sosanya as Will's mother, it was more of an I-Spy game of Who Else Has Been in Who?

It's been a brilliant first series, so I'm looking forward to this second one. What else can we do these days but settle in front of the tellybox with some decent materials to watch.