Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV series)

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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell TV series titlecard.jpg
Genre
Based on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
Written by Peter Harness
Directed by Toby Haynes
Starring
Composers
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes7
Production
Executive producers
ProducerNick Hirschkorn
EditorsPeter Christelis, Philip Kloss
Production companies
Original release
Network BBC One
Release17 May (2015-05-17) –
28 June 2015 (2015-06-28)

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a seven-part British historical fantasy TV miniseries adapted by Peter Harness from Susanna Clarke's best-selling 2004 novel of the same name. It premiered on BBC One on 17 May 2015 and ended on 28 June 2015. It was nominated for four BAFTA awards and recognised by the British Film Institute as one of the top ten most important television programmes of 2015. [1] [2]

Contents

Plot

Set in England during the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century, the series presents an alternative history where magic is widely acknowledged, but rarely practised. Living in the rural north, Mr Norrell (Eddie Marsan) of Hurtfew Abbey is able to make the statues of York Minster talk and move. His manservant John Childermass (Enzo Cilenti) persuades him to travel to London to help in the war against France.

While there, Mr Norrell encounters a leading member of the government and makes magic respectable in the realm when he conjures a fairy, called the Gentleman (Marc Warren), to bring the minister's fiancée (Alice Englert) back to life. Meanwhile, Jonathan Strange (Bertie Carvel) meets Vinculus (Paul Kaye), a street magician, while attempting to find a respectable profession, as demanded by his love Arabella (Charlotte Riley). Strange is told by Vinculus that he is destined to be a great magician and so he begins to study magic. [3] [4]

Cast

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions)
1"The Friends of English Magic" Toby Haynes Peter Harness 17 May 2015 (2015-05-17)4.50 [5]
Reclusive Mr Norrell comes to London from York to bring English magic back to prominence, three centuries after it seemingly died out. He resurrects Sir Walter Pole's deceased fiancée, Emma Wintertowne, by making a bargain with the mysterious Gentleman with the Thistle-Down Hair. Meanwhile, charismatic young Jonathan Strange is told that he has the makings of a magician.
2"How Is Lady Pole?"Toby HaynesPeter Harness24 May 2015 (2015-05-24)2.60 [6]
Mr Norrell finds that something is amiss with Lady Pole and soon realizes that the Gentleman is behind it. Sir Walter's servant Stephen and Lady Pole are enchanted by the Gentleman and taken away each night. Meanwhile, Strange impresses the newly renowned Mr Norrell and becomes his apprentice.
3"The Education of a Magician"Toby HaynesPeter Harness31 May 2015 (2015-05-31)2.20 [7]
Pressed into service for the war against France, Strange receives a less than warm welcome from the Duke of Wellington in Lisbon. He soon makes himself useful, but treads dangerous waters by dabbling in dark magic. Meanwhile, Lady Pole is desperate to communicate her and Stephen's plight to Arabella, though she is enchanted against doing so.
4"All the Mirrors of the World"Toby HaynesPeter Harness7 June 2015 (2015-06-07)1.78 [8]
A suicidal Lady Pole tries to kill Mr Norrell, but fails and is placed in the care of Segundus and Honeyfoot. Strange discovers a world behind mirrors, and he and Mr Norrell part ways with irreconcilable differences.
5"Arabella"Toby HaynesPeter Harness14 June 2015 (2015-06-14)1.80 [9]
Arabella is tricked into going to the realm of the Gentleman with the Thistle-Down Hair; Strange is deceived by her black magic substitute, which dies, leaving him in mourning. Mr Norrell tries to quash the publication of Strange's book about magic.
6"The Black Tower"Toby HaynesPeter Harness21 June 2015 (2015-06-21)1.60 [10]
Mr Norrell uses underhanded magic to make Strange's book literally disappear. Isolating himself in Venice, Strange finally manages to summon the Gentleman. Following him to Lost Hope, Strange discovers that Arabella, Lady Pole and Stephen are under the fairy's spell, but the Gentleman uses all of his strength to cast Strange out and lay a curse of darkness upon him.
7"Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell"Toby HaynesPeter Harness28 June 2015 (2015-06-28)1.70 [11]
Strange returns to England in hopes of uniting with Mr Norrell to bring back the Raven King, defeat the Gentleman and regain Arabella.

Production

Development

Carvel (left) and Marsan (right) as the title characters Strange and Norrell, respectively. Strange+Norrell 2015.jpg
Carvel (left) and Marsan (right) as the title characters Strange and Norrell, respectively.

On 30 November 2012, the BBC announced that an adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell had been commissioned for BBC One. [12] The production was officially greenlit as a seven-hour miniseries in April 2013, with a projected 2014 premiere date. [13] [14] BBC America noted that it would broadcast the miniseries during its "Supernatural Saturday" science fiction and fantasy programming block. [13] [14]

Adapted by Harness and directed by Toby Haynes, [13] the series was produced by Nick Hirschkorn, with executive producers Nick Marston, Tally Garner, Dixie Linder, Justin Thomson-Glover, Patrick Irwin and Matthew Read. [3] [14] [15] Co-production credits are shared by Cuba Pictures and BBC America, Feel Films, Far Moor, Screen Yorkshire and Space. [3] [14]

Co-Production Countries were Canada (20.42%) United Kingdom (79.58%) and shot in Canada, the UK, and Croatia. [16]

Casting

The BBC announced the casting of Carvel and Marsan in the title roles in October 2013, as well as Warren as The Gentleman, Riley as Arabella, West and Englert as Sir Walter and Lady Pole, Cilenti as Childermass and Kaye as Vinculus. [15] A read-through of the script took place on 23 October 2013. [17] Filming began on 28 October 2013 in Yorkshire, Canada and Croatia. [3] Author Clarke visited the set in November 2013. [18]

Broadcast

The series premiered in the UK on 17 May 2015. [19] It later debuted in the US on BBC America on 13 June 2015, [20] in Canada on The Movie Network and Movie Central on 3 July 2015, [21] and in Australia on BBC First on 6 August 2015. [22]

Reception

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was positively received by critics. It holds an overall 91% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes [23] and a critics' rating of 71/100 on Metacritic. [24] It was selected for preservation in the BFI National Archive as one of the ten best TV programmes of 2015, as well as being nominated for four BAFTA Awards and seven RTS Yorkshire awards. [2] [25]

Evan Ferguson of The Observer wrote that you could describe it as "Harry Potter for adults" but that it was "far snakier and more thrilling" and likened it more to Peter Shaffer's Amadeus : "It's in the Sunday-night slot lately reserved for Poldark. And it's 10 times better." [26] Nick Horton was even more enthusiastic in his Den of Geek review:

"What are some of the best British dramas of recent years? Here's just a few. Wolf Hall, Utopia, Peaky Blinders, Broadchurch,Happy Valley, Luther, Doctor Who and In The Flesh. It's been said to death but remains the case: we truly are in a golden age of original British drama. But now you might just have to make room for a new favourite. I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the finest new drama that's been on our screens this decade. In fact, if the first two episodes are anything to go by, it could go down as one of the best this century." [27]

While Louisa Mellor added that Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell "has that rare power to engulf" making it:

"...ideal for swallowing in a single gulp. Watched back-to-back, its chapters coalesce into one marvellous, unbroken tale. It's a bedtime story with tremendous scope; one that will transport you from Yorkshire to London to a Belgian battlefield to Venice, the other realm of Faerie and beyond." [28]

David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that viewers would be "dazzled" by the series, calling the special effects "exquisitely executed" and noting that "Every performance is a winner, from Marsan's mousey Norrell, to Carvel's brash Jonathan, to Englert's increasingly mad and self-destructive Lady Pole." [29] Emmet Asher-Perrin praised the overall series at Tor.com but noted, "the ending of this series was altogether abrupt and unsatisfying for my tastes". [30] Mike Hale of The New York Times called it "a largely unremarkable mini-series", adding:

That’s not to put down this BBC production ... but to warn those who enjoyed the best-selling book to temper their expectations. ...Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is great to look at. It moves along at a gallop, and it’s not boring, even if it’s not exactly engaging either. Most important, it has appealing performances by Bertie Carvel as Strange and particularly by Eddie Marsan as the crabbed and proud Norrell. In this one regard, the mini-series can be considered an improvement on the book, where the characterizations of the two magicians were a bit abstract and airless. [31]

George R. R. Martin wrote in his Livejournal about popular novels and their adaptations:

"I saw the BBC production of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell before I finally got around to reading Susanna Clarke's novel. In both cases, I loved the book and I loved the adaptation. It does not need to be one or the other. You might prefer one over the other, but you can still enjoy the hell out of both." [32]

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References

  1. ↑ "Nominations Announced for the British Academy Television Craft Awards in 2016". BAFTA. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 "The best British TV of 2015". BFI. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Eddie Marsan and Bertie Carvel cast in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell for BBC One". BBC. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  5. ↑ Farber, Alex (18 May 2015). "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell spooks 4.5m". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Farber, Alex (26 May 2015). "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell loses 2m". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  7. ↑ Farber, Alex (1 June 2015). "Britain's Got Talent hits 13.4m peak". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  8. ↑ Campelli, Matthew (8 June 2015). "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell loses out to BBC2". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  9. ↑ White, David (15 June 2015). "Humans becomes Channel 4's biggest-ever drama". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  10. ↑ Campelli, Matthew (22 June 2015). "Black Work eases past Humans". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  11. ↑ Kanter, Jake (29 June 2015). "No fireworks for Clarkson's Top Gear finale". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "Danny Cohen looks ahead at the five key themes to define BBC One in 2013, and announces new commissions". BBC. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  13. 1 2 3 Itzkoff, Dave (8 April 2013). "BBC to Adapt Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell as Mini-Series". The New York Times . Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "BBC AMERICA to Premiere Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Series in 2014". BBC America . 8 April 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  15. 1 2 Tartaglione, Nancy (25 October 2013). "Eddie Marsan To Topline Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell For BBC One/BBC America". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  16. ↑ "Official coproductions". Telefilm Canada. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  17. ↑ Peter Harness [@mrpeterharness] (23 October 2013). "I have to say that was a pretty tremendous day of #JonathanStrangeandMrNorrell readthroughs with our wonderfully embargoed til Friday cast" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 November 2013– via Twitter.
  18. ↑ Samuel West [@exitthelemming] (25 November 2013). "Susanna Clarke visited #jonathanstrangeandmrnorrell set last week. Said she kept thinking "What are all these people doing outside my head?" (Tweet). Retrieved 9 December 2013– via Twitter.
  19. ↑ "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell". Empire . feelfilms.co.uk. April 2015. pp. 104–5. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  20. ↑ Daley, Megan (6 May 2015). "BBC America sets summer premiere date for Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "The magically mad mash-up of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell". The Globe and Mail . 3 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  22. ↑ Purcell, Charles (30 July 2015). "New this week (Aug 3): Rogue, Jonathan Strange, Bitten, 7 Days in Hell and live sport". The Green Room. Archived from the original on 30 July 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  23. ↑ "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  24. ↑ "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell". Metacritic . Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  25. ↑ "Nominations Announced For RTS Yorkshire Awards 2016". Royal Television Society. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  26. ↑ Ferguson, Euan (24 May 2015). "The week in TV: Mad Men; 1864; Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; The Island with Bear Grylls; 24 Hours in the Past". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  27. ↑ "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: the best UK fantasy in years". Den of Geek. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  28. ↑ "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Blu-ray review". Den of Geek. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  29. ↑ Wiegand, David (11 June 2015). "BBC America's Strange magic will dazzle you". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  30. ↑ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (29 June 2015). "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Chapter Seven". Tor.com . Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  31. ↑ Hale, Mike (10 June 2015). "Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, a Battlefield Where Magic Is the Weapon of Choice". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  32. ↑ grrm. "Last Year (Winds of Winter)". Not A Blog. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
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