The BBC has announced it will adapt Phillip Pullman‘s epic fantasy novel series, His Dark Materials, into an ongoing television series. Produced by New Line entertainment, who were responsible for the 2006 feature adaptation, and former BBC executives Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner‘s production house, Bad Wolf, the series will be comprised of eight episodes and will centre on the first book of the trilogy; The Golden Compass.
The novels focus on a young girl named Lyra, who lives in an alternate Oxford in which technology is not dissimilar to magic. In this reality, people have creatures named daemons, who embody their spirit but live outside their body. Swept into a vast conspiracy that reaches all the way to a devine creator, Lyra and her daemon meet many fantastical characters and suffer great tragedies.
New Line’s 2006 adaptation starred Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman and Ian McKellen; though failed to excite critics and audiences alike, despite a prestigious cast. A commercial failure, the other books in the trilogy; The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass were never converted to film. The first book is a roaring adventure across a stunningly realised world, full of developed characters and intriguing mythology.
The second book however, diminishes the first’s strong female protagonist, delving into some extremely questionable gender politics. With the BBC planning to adapt all three novels, we best hope they update some of the scenarios for a modern audience. Little else is known about the project, though the series will air on BBC One.
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