Last week, the BBC released a short trailer for His Dark Materials – a new drama series based on the best-selling and well-loved children’s/young adult trilogy by Phillip Pullman, sending fans of the books into a whirlwind of excitement and anticipation.
With its star-studded cast including James McAvoy as the mysterious Lord Asriel and Ruth Wilson playing the deliciously wicked Mrs Coulter, the series hold immense promise to deliver an outstanding portrayal of the events in these books which have been loved for so long.
However, who can forget The Golden Compass? A film adaptation of the first novel in the trilogy, The Northern Lights, intending to progress into a franchise of three films in total and with the same appeal of a stellar cast (Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman, to name a few), and yet the film failed massively in the box office upon release. But why is this? Is it the medium of film which didn’t quite pay homage to Pullman’s work? Or was it the incessant drive towards the aim of having this series of films blow up in true Lord Of The Rings/Harry Potter-style?
Arguably, both are factors as to why the film remains easily forgettable and not talked about much in the world of book to film adaptations, which is why I am more hopeful for the BBC series…
Thanks to platforms such as Netflix, and the BBCs ability to create gripping series consisting of eight thrilling episodes jam-packed with twists and turns (Doctor Foster, Bodyguard, Killing Eve and The Missing being some of the most well-known), popularity is growing for these series which arguably have more flexibility in terms of capturing the true essence of a novel.
Of course, we can’t expect the series to be completely true to the book and have all characters and sub-plots included, however I think we will be in for a real treat come the release of His Dark Materials later this year…