The Shadow in the North

I was somewhat worried that this episode might deviate too far from the original book, especially as "The Shadow in the North" is my favourite of the Sally Lockhart quartet. However, I was pleasantly surprised, it stuck extremely close to the book and really brought Philip Pullman's creation to life. The acting was superb, Billie Piper as the Financial Consultant-cum- detective Sally Lockhart was very convincing as the feisty, yet vulnerable young woman who is pulled into a dark underworld of corruption and murder. Equally, Jared Harris as evil tycoon Axel Bellman was great- understated yet chilling, just as Pullman envisaged him. I can't fault the script or pace of it either, it was gripping but managed to obtain the essence of dialogue/ storyline without leaving out anything significant, and some adaptations might tend to do. Overall, highly enjoyable and entertaining, a worthy adaptation of Pullman's great story!

"The Shadow in the North" is one of those films that, even though it is set in another time, has a modern feel to it. It's not quite up to Masterpiece Mystery standards.

Former singer Billie Piper, a beautiful young woman and a fine actress, is Sally Lockhart. Sally is an investment adviser, but one of her clients has gone broke thanks to her advice. A ship with the commodities she invested in on board disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Lloyds of London refused to settle her claim.

Sally promises the woman that she will get every cent of her money back. She goes to see the ship owner, Axel Bellmann (Jared Harris), and demands that he return the money. He refuses.

Sally asks her friends, Fred Garland and Jim Taylor, who are detectives, to investigate for her. Bellmann turns out to be a ruthless arms merchant who has developed a steam gun that is very powerful and can be used against civilians.

Someone suggested that this movie is for young viewers and hence, the modern touches. Sally is a very independent and free-thinking woman who looks about as if she belongs in the Victorian era about as much as Miley Cyrus does. The full lips, the lack of deportment, her plain speaking, her boldness - not of the era. Also she's not a big one for wearing hats. Ethnic types abound and seem to be accepted by society. I have to to think all of this was to make it palatable to teenagers. I have no objection to that - it's a well acted if confusing story (magicians and spiritualists play a role in the plot as well), and Sally is indeed all about girl power. I would love to see Billie Piper in something else, maybe something truly modern.

Someone in the forest.

Blood on the snow.

He is still there, all in a glass coffin.

Bells, bells...the Bellmann.

There's a shadow in the north.

Now that Sally has lost a father and gained a family, she is ready for the next adventure.

Sally is now an investment counselor. JJ Field and Jim tailor give up their old professions and become detectives.

Again, there are several overlapping spooky problems including lost funds and murderous sward play. We are allowed to speculate and kibitz. About halfway through the movie most of the mysteries start to make sense. Now all we have to do is hope there are not any last-minute twists. Closed Caption helps with some of the mumbling.

Based on a novel by Bill Pullman (author of "The Golden Compass") you can see the Pullman pattern in the story. Pullman always has strong-willed women. Adrian Hodges wrote the screenplay, the same person that wrote the screen play in the first episode and kept the essentials while making it more palatable as a film.

Many people watched the BBC production because Sally (Veronica Lockhart) is well played by Billie Piper of "Dr. Who" fame. Yet all of the other actors most pretty well known in their rights helped make this an excellent presentation. Jim Taylor (Matt Smith) returns from the first episode and has a bigger part.

Strange what you remember and forget so I had to watch it again nearly two decades later.

This is not at all what I expect from "Mystery!" Unless intended as farce, in which case it did not succeed either, I found the production far-fetched, and fraught with 21st century sensibilities and laxity.

Why did Sally only wear a hat to visit the villain? Was it 1875 when she was investigating, but 1970 or later in the rest of the story? I would have expected her to cover her head whenever she went out, with the exception of emergency.

And though very funny (*Was* it an attempt at farce?), during the scene at the Patent Office, I wasn't sure whether the Anglo-Asian clerk was befuddled by Sally because she was a woman or ineptly flirting with her.

To quote Sherlock Holmes, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." This production eliminated none of the impossible, and so we are left wallowing in disbelief at what we are expected to accept as the "truth" of the story.

Not being a reader of Pullman, I cannot comment on how true it is to the book on which it was based. Perhaps Mr. Pullman deserves the blame for my incredulity?

I have only recently read the books, and if anything my admiration for this adaptation actually grew having finished it. It would have been easy to veer away from the book, but it's such an accurate adaptation.

Piper shines once again as Sally, she is joined by a terrific cast, some real talent on display here, Julian Rhind Tutt, Richard Clews and of course Jared Harris.

I'm so glad this was adapted, the first was lucky enough to have a masterclass from Julie Walters, this one relies more on the story, action and humour.

The action scenes at the end are terrific, the humour comes from Dona Croll, who is so funny.

Terrific production values, it looks sensational, some of the costumes used here are tremendous.

Overall, I loved it, 9/10.