Neverwhere

Books are usually better than their screenings. This is somehow logical, because the adaptation changes the source material to accommodate it to another and completely different medium, whose explicitness could never be compared with the infinite possibilities of crossing the imagination of the author with the imagination of the reader. But it seems that even when things are going in the opposite direction, the books still win.

"Neverwhere" is a British mini-series that Neil Gaiman wrote directly for TV, and then subsequently turned its scenario into a novel, which changed from release to release until it became one of my favorite books, which series on which it is based exceeds in every respect. Although it's BBC, the series is low-budget or at least looks cheap. Also, there are only six half-hour episodes, and the potential here is quite enough for at least ten times more, which would allow a more detailed story and better character development. But that does not mean it's bad. On the contrary, I liked it, because it very convincingly fits quite original fantasy world into our reality. The main problem is that the actors can not play, the director cannot direct, and studio and filming locations cannot look as good as I can imagine when I read a book.

Any attempt to give you a brief idea about its plot finished as a spoiler, so I'm giving up on that intention. The mere fact that it's written by Neil Gaiman should be reason enough for you to take a look.

9/10 for author's imagination 5/10 for the technical realization

At first glance you may be turned off by the unfortunate quality, but once you can get past it, NeverWhere will take you to places you've never been. You travel along with it's not too willing participant Richard Meyhew as he desperately attempts to figure out London Below's secrets whilst hoping to, in the process, find a way to get back home to London above. Gary Bakewell (known mostly for his perfect portrayals as Paul McCartney) does an excellent job as the confused Meyhew, with a Scottish accent and always another dumb question, all the characters are portrayed wonderfully - especially that of the Marquis De Carabas. The villains, though sometimes the comic relief, can be quite terrifying as well. Wonderful writing throughout, and although sometimes simplified, the sets give the perfect atmosphere to London below. It will make you think about what you *really* see around you!

After seven years, Neverwhere is finally available on DVD, and can be found on major shopping sites like Amazon. I'm sure many of you heard of it, but much fewer have seen it. This fascinating 1996 BBC mini-series was created by Mr. Neil Gaiman, accomplished and acclaimed author of American Gods, Coraline and Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett) among others, and co-written by Gaiman and the wonderful British comedian Lenny Henry. Gaiman fans such as myself have waited for quite some time to see this series introduced to American audiences - and since Gaiman is now finally breaking ground in the States (American Gods actually won the Hugo award, and was an international bestseller) this seems like the perfect time. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a video of the series a couple of years back, but those are quite rare. If you love Neil's work, take the chance to finally see this lovely piece of work.

Neverwhere is a highly imaginative story of urban legend, rich with Gaiman's special brand of British black humor. The script is really wonderful, and Henry helps with his own experience in screenplay writing. Acting is terrific by everyone involved - I loved Gary Bakewell (frequent Paul McCartney impersonator on various BBC tele-biographies) as Richard Mayhew, the ordinary Englishman drawn into a strange adventure underground, and many other accomplished British actors - such as Laura Fraser, Trevor Peacock, Freddie Jones and Peter Capaldi - give a great performance. Unfortunately, the series suffers from the same problems shared by most British TV series - a budget lower than that of one episode of 'Dharma and Greg'. Therefore, the scenery, though highly inventive and original, doesn't look very impressive. Dewi Humphreys directs like he would direct a soap opera or a murder mystery, and though the directing of the dialogue is flawless, the action scenes are immensely disappointing, especially the 'Beast of England' battle, which is incredibly unconvincing.

Despite these weaknesses, though, the series is still well worth watching, especially if you're fond of the genre, and also if you're fond of British television. A word on two great artists who contributed much to the series: Dave McKean, for one, the great artist who collaborated with Gaiman in works like 'The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch', 'Black Orchid' and Coraline, created an astounding opening sequence to every episode, which is a fascinating piece of work by itself; if you enjoy his work on such graphic novels as Arkham Asylum, Cages and his covers for Neil's Sandman series, the DVD is worth it just for this one sequence. Secondly, the brilliant Mr. Brian Eno, the inventor of Ambient music and musical collaborator of the likes of David Byrne, David Bowie and Robert Fripp, supplies the wonderful score to the series, very eerie and atmospheric synthesized music. Thank god for that, because without him we'd probably have basic British TV music, which tends to be quite awful - and Eno's sound really adds a lot to the atmosphere of the story.

It's important that, if you read and enjoyed the novel Neverwhere, you won't approach this series expecting Hollywood - or even modern American television - production values, because you'll be disappointed. A movie version of this nature, in collaboration with Jim Henson co, has been in talks for some time, but it doesn't seem very likely. If fantasy films are to you special effects and big battle scenes, you probably won't be impressed by Neverwhere. If you love fantasy literature, though, and especially Gaiman's work, you'll find Neverwhere highly rewarding. It's very entertaining, and very imaginative. And in the end, imagination is what fantasy is all about. Isn't it?

You probably have to know London a bit to fully enjoy the story of Neverwhere (the series or the novel for that matter). The whole story relies on knowing a bit of the city layout, above and below :) And it's understandable that US viewers can be surprised by the low budget BBC production (unless they were familiarized with it through stuff like Dr Who which seems to be popular at the moment). Most European TVs don't get to sell their productions abroad so they won't invest as heavily as the US productions.

I read the novel long before I could get my hands on the DVD (actually way before I was even aware of anything being available in filmed form, much less as a DVD). For some reason the only release seems to be for the US market.

Regarding the Neverwhere series, yes, while the cast is mostly good, some of the actors are so-so. Even with the obviously shoestring budget, the sets and costumes are quite inventive and convincingly used. The directing unfortunately is really poor and it does quite a bit of damage to the effectiveness of the whole.

If you have read and enjoyed the novel, you will find the series to be something imperfect yes but also something that you can watch with fondness. Possibly a proper adaptation by a proper director with a decent budget would be nice. But it's unlikely it will ever happen. Isn't it better to enjoy what's available even if it could theoretically be better ?

I was blown away back in 96 when I first watched this TV series. Not only was the story-line way out there compared with most of the rest of the TV output at the time, but also the casting and acting were both superb. I was already a fan of Peter Capaldi, which was one of the reasons I tuned in at the beginning, but I was soon swept up in the whole story and found it one of those strange stories that is completely believable although obviously fantastical. I have always been sorry that it hasn't been repeated on terrestrial TV and was thrilled last summer to find the book freely available. Reading this I found that many of the image from the original broadcast were firmly fixed in my mind and I have been searching websites for information about a DVD. To my amazement the BBC website denies all knowledge of the series at all! What's that all about? I have finally found a supplier in Australia for the DVD - but that's not much use is it? Has anyone else also watched the brilliant Gaiman recent work Mirrormask?