The Crimson Petal and the White (TV serial)

Last updated

The Crimson Petal and the White
GenreDrama
Based on The Crimson Petal and the White
by Michel Faber
Screenplay by Lucinda Coxon
Directed by Marc Munden
Starring Romola Garai
Chris O'Dowd
Theme music composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer
Country of originUnited Kingdom/
Canada
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes4
Production
Cinematography Lol Crawley
EditorLuke Dunkley
Production companiesOrigin Pictures
Cité-Amérique
Release
Original network BBC Two
Original release6 April (2011-04-06) 
27 April 2011 (2011-04-27)

The Crimson Petal and the White is a 2011 four part television serial, adapted from Michel Faber's 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White . Starring Romola Garai as Sugar and Chris O'Dowd as William Rackham, the drama aired in the UK during April 2011 on BBC Two. The supporting cast includes Shirley Henderson, Richard E. Grant and Gillian Anderson. Critical reviews of the drama were mixed but generally positive.

Contents

Plot

In Victorian London, William Rackham is the heir to a perfume business and has a mentally ill wife, Agnes, who is confined to her home. Despite his dreams to become a renowned writer, he has no talent for it, and his father decides to cut his allowance until William starts working seriously in the company. William meets and becomes infatuated with a young and intelligent prostitute named Sugar, who is writing a novel of her own, filled with hatred and revenge against all the men who abused her and her colleagues. William moves Sugar into a flat of her own on the condition that she sees him exclusively, while she helps him emotionally and financially by giving good advice on how to handle the company. Sugar becomes more and more attached to William and, as she comments to one of her old friends, "the world that comes with him". Eventually he moves her into the Rackham household under the pretence of working as a governess to his young daughter Sophie, the daughter Agnes has never acknowledged the existence of due to her madness. Agnes becomes increasingly unstable and desperate and, having caught glimpses of Sugar, believes her to be her own guardian angel who will bring her to the imaginary Convent of Health.

With time Sugar grows close to Sophie, becoming the mother she never had, and Agnes, by reading her journals and helping her. Agnes' irrational behaviour risks her being incarcerated in an asylum and the night before she is taken and William is away, Sugar helps Agnes to escape. Later on a body is found that William identifies as Agnes (he recognises only her hair, not knowing that Agnes had cut her hair before escaping). William and Sugar's relationship grows distant, with William treating Sugar more and more like a servant and adviser rather than a lover. Sugar becomes pregnant, but realising that William no longer wants her, induces a miscarriage. William begins to court another woman, despite telling Sugar things would get better, and when he discovers Sugar's pregnancy (not knowing she has already miscarried), he coldly tells her to leave.

Enraged by the betrayal, Sugar gathers Sophie's belongings and runs away with her. While running away, Sugar loses her manuscript and buys a new notebook to start a new story and a new life with Sophie. Meanwhile, William discovers what Sugar has done and tries to catch up with them, but after being mocked by Sugar's old friends he realises he has lost everything.

Cast

Film locations

The production visited Kent, where they filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham and Eastgate House in Rochester. [1] The scenes set in Chepstow Villas were filmed in Canning Street, Liverpool.

Reception

In a review of the first episode for The Independent , Tom Sutcliffe described the opening scenes as a "bad laudanum dream" and said "it looks fabulous". [2] Writing for The Daily Telegraph , Michael Deacon compared the drama negatively to its source material. He found that the "limitations of television" had had a detrimental effect on the story, criticising the "demure" sex scenes, faster pace, and the inability of television as a medium to get into the characters' minds. [3] Also writing for The Daily Telegraph, John Preston gave the series a mixed review. He was critical of the production as chaotic and unfocused, and noted "a certain flabbiness" and lack of character development. However, he praised the actors, particularly Chris O'Dowd, and Gillian Anderson. [4]

In another article for The Daily Telegraph, Benji Wilson gave the series a positive review, saying "it was certainly bold, experimental and it worked". He was particularly complimentary about the "look" created by director Marc Munden and cinematographer Lol Crawley. He described Cristobal Tapia de Veer's soundtrack as "bizarre and contrary" and went on to say "[de Veer] set out to subvert – he welded the squelchings and rumblings of modern electronica to a tableau from the 1870s in the way that Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood did in his score for There Will Be Blood ." [5] Writing for The Observer , Andrew Anthony was enthusiastic about the drama, calling the acting "richly subtle" and the cinematography "intoxicatingly woozy". He praised Romola Garai and said that Chris O'Dowd's performance was "a revelation". [6] The Guardian 's Sarah Dempster described the atmosphere as "woozy, gauzy [and] brilliantly claustrophobic"; a result, she said, of Munden's "exceptional, stylish, unselfconscious direction" and de Veer's score. [7] Rachel Cooke in the New Statesman called the series "a compelling thing: vivid, nasty and rank with the stench of hypocrisy". She praised the director and actors, especially Gillian Anderson ("so sly, so convincing"). [8] In a blog post for The Guardian, novelist Michel Faber described the experience of watching the adaptation of his story. He was pleased with the result and credited screenwriter Lucinda Coxon for placing "parental nurture or the lack of it" at the centre of the story. [9] in an interview for The List , he said "They’ve been very clever. I think they’ve done an extraordinary job with it." [10]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryRecipients and nomineesResult
2011 Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards [11] Best Costume DesignAnnie SymonsWon
Best Make-Up DesignJacqueline FowlerWon
Best Production DesignGrant MontgomeryWon
2012 BAFTA Television Awards [12] Best Actress Romola GaraiNominated
Best Mini-Series The Crimson Petal and the WhiteNominated
Broadcasting Press Guild TV Awards [13] Best ActressGillian AndersonNominated
Romola GaraiNominated
Irish Film & Television Awards [14] Best Television ActorChris O'DowdNominated
Royal Television Society Awards [15] Best Drama SerialThe Crimson Petal and the WhiteNominated
2013 Critics' Choice Television Award [16] Best Movie or Mini-Series The Crimson Petal and the WhiteNominated

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Anderson</span> American actress (born 1968)

Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series The X-Files, ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film The House of Mirth (2000), DSU Stella Gibson in the BBC/RTÉ crime drama television series The Fall, sex therapist Jean Milburn in the Netflix comedy drama Sex Education, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season of Netflix drama series The Crown. Among other honors, she has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.

<i>Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights</i> 2004 American musical romance film directed by Guy Ferland

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is a 2004 American dance musical romance film directed by Guy Ferland and starring Diego Luna, Romola Garai, Sela Ward, John Slattery, Jonathan Jackson, January Jones, and Mika Boorem. The film is an unrelated prequel/"re-imagining" of the 1987 blockbuster Dirty Dancing, reusing the same basic plot, but transplanting it from upstate New York to Cuba on the cusp of the Cuban Revolution. Patrick Swayze, star of the original Dirty Dancing, appears as a dance instructor. It was mostly filmed in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michel Faber</span> Dutch writer

Michel Faber is a Dutch-born writer of English-language fiction, including his 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White. His latest book is a novel for young adults, D: A Tale of Two Worlds, published in 2020. His next book, Listen, a non-fiction work about music, is due in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brougham (carriage)</span> Type of horse-drawn carriage

A brougham was a light, four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage built in the 19th century. It was named after the politician and jurist Lord Brougham, who had this type of carriage built to his specification by London coachbuilder Robinson & Cook in 1838 or 1839. It had an enclosed body with two doors, like the rear section of a coach; it sat two, sometimes with an extra pair of fold-away seats in the front corners, and with a box seat in front for the driver and a footman or passenger. Unlike a coach, the carriage had a glazed front window, so that the occupants could see forward. The forewheels were capable of turning sharply. A variant, called a brougham-landaulet, had a top collapsible from the rear doors backward.

Gillian Louise Kearney is an English actress best known for her early role as Debbie McGrath in Channel 4's Liverpool-based soap opera Brookside and the spin-off mini-series Damon and Debbie, and for playing Jessica Harrison in the long-running BBC television medical drama series Casualty, as well as Emma Barton in the ITV Yorkshire-based soap opera Emmerdale. The role of Emma gained her recognition because of character's involvement in Emmerdale’s most high-profile storylines during her three-year stint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Henderson</span> Scottish actress (born 1965)

Shirley Henderson is a Scottish actress. Her accolades include two Scottish BAFTAs, a VFCC Award and an Olivier Award, as well as BAFTA, BIFA, London Critics' Circle, Chlotrudis, Gotham, and Canadian Screen Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romola Garai</span> British actress

Romola Sadie Garai is a British actress and film director. Known for her extensive work on stage and screen she often acts in period films. Her early film roles include Nicholas Nickleby (2002), I Capture the Castle (2003), Inside I'm Dancing (2004), and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004). She's gained prominence for her performances in the critically acclaimed costume dramas such as Vanity Fair (2004), As You Like It (2006), Amazing Grace (2007), Atonement (2007), Glorious 39 (2009), and Suffragette (2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris O'Dowd</span> Irish actor and comedian (born 1979)

Christopher O'Dowd is an Irish actor and comedian. He received wide attention as Roy Trenneman, one of the lead characters in the Channel 4 comedy The IT Crowd, which ran for four series between 2006 and 2010. He has also starred in several films, Gulliver's Travels (2010), Bridesmaids, Friends with Kids, Cuban Fury (2014), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018). He created and starred in the Sky 1 television series Moone Boy, which aired between 2012 and 2015 and brought him Irish Film and Television Award nominations in acting, writing, and directing.

<i>The Crimson Petal and the White</i> Book by Michel Faber

The Crimson Petal and the White is a 2002 novel by Michel Faber set in Victorian England.

Amanda Hale is a British actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Wilberforce</span>

Barbara Ann Wilberforce was the spouse of abolitionist and MP William Wilberforce.

<i>Angel</i> (2007 film) 2007 Belgian film

Angel, also known as the Real Life of Angel Deverell, is a 2007 British romantic drama film directed by François Ozon. It is based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Elizabeth Taylor, about the short life of a passionate young woman in Edwardian England for whom the fake world of the pulpy novels she writes replaces reality. The protagonist was portrayed by Romola Garai; other characters were played by Sam Neill, Michael Fassbender and Charlotte Rampling.

<i>Emma</i> (2009 TV serial) 2009 British television drama series

Emma is a four-part BBC television drama serial adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma. The episodes were written by Sandy Welch, writer of previous BBC costume dramas Jane Eyre and North & South, and directed by Jim O'Hanlon. The serial stars Romola Garai as the titular heroine Emma Woodhouse, Jonny Lee Miller as her loyal lifelong friend Mr. Knightley, and Michael Gambon as Emma's father, Mr. Woodhouse. The serial originally ran weekly on Sunday nights on BBC One from 4 to 25 October 2009.

<i>Daniel Deronda</i> (TV series) British TV series or program

Daniel Deronda is a British television serial drama adapted by Andrew Davies from the 1876 George Eliot novel of the same name. It was directed by Tom Hooper, produced by Louis Marks, and was first broadcast in three parts on BBC One from 23 November to 7 December 2002. The serial starred Hugh Dancy as Daniel Deronda, Romola Garai as Gwendolen Harleth, Hugh Bonneville as Henleigh Grandcourt, and Jodhi May as Mirah Lapidoth. Co-production funding came from WGBH Boston.

The Hour is a British television drama series broadcast on BBC. The series was centred on a then-new current-affairs show being launched by the BBC in June 1956, at the time of the Hungarian Revolution and Suez Crisis. It stars Ben Whishaw, Dominic West, and Romola Garai, with a supporting cast including Tim Pigott-Smith, Juliet Stevenson, Burn Gorman, Anton Lesser, Anna Chancellor, Julian Rhind-Tutt, and Oona Chaplin. It was written by Abi Morgan.

The 2012 British Academy Television Awards were held on 27 May 2012 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The nominees were announced on 24 April 2012.

Simon Patrick Douro Hoare, known by the stage-name Sam Hoare, is a British actor and director known for his role as rower Dickie Burnell, alongside Matt Smith, in BBC One Olympic drama Bert and Dickie (2012).

Churchill's Secret is a British drama television film first broadcast on ITV1 on 28 February 2016. The screenplay was written by Stewart Harcourt based on the book The Churchill Secret: KBO by Jonathan Smith. It stars Michael Gambon as Winston Churchill and Romola Garai as Millie Appleyard, his nurse. Production was supported by PBS, which screened the film as part of its Masterpiece anthology.

Hayley Squires is an English actress and playwright, best known for her work in the Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake. Squires has also appeared in Call the Midwife (2012), Southcliffe (2013), Complicit (2013), Blood Cells (2014), A Royal Night Out (2015) and Murder (2016). Her first play, Vera Vera Vera, was produced by the Royal Court Theatre in 2012.

<i>The Miniaturist</i> (TV series) British TV series or program

The Miniaturist is a 2017 BBC television miniseries adaptation of the debut novel of the same name by Jessie Burton. The series was directed by Guillem Morales and stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Romola Garai and Alex Hassell and first aired in two parts from 26–27 December 2017 on BBC One. In the United States, it aired in three parts from 9–27 September 2018 on PBS's Masterpiece.

References

  1. Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office The Crimson Petal and the White Article".
  2. Sutcliffe, Tom (7 April 2011), "Last Night's TV: The Crimson Petal and the White/BBC2 Vacation, Vacation, Vacation/Channel 4", The Independent , Independent Print Limited, retrieved 1 May 2011
  3. Deacon, Michael (6 April 2011), "The Crimson Petal and the White: A Victorian Horror Story Too Big for the Small Screen, Review", The Daily Telegraph , retrieved 1 May 2011
  4. Preston, John (6 April 2011), "The Crimson Petal and the White, BBC Two, review", The Daily Telegraph, retrieved 1 May 2011
  5. Wilson, Benji (28 April 2011), "The Crimson Petal and the White, Final Episode, Review", The Daily Telegraph, retrieved 1 May 2011
  6. Anthony, Andrew (1 May 2011), "Rewind TV: When Kate Met William; Kate and William: Romance and the Royals; The Suspicions of Mr Whicher; The Crimson Petal and the White", The Observer , Guardian Media Group, retrieved 1 May 2011
  7. Dempster, Sarah (17 April 2011), "The Crimson Petal and the White: Episode Four – Season Finale", The Guardian , retrieved 15 May 2011
  8. Cooke, Rachel (7 April 2011), "The Crimson Petal and the White (BBC2)", New Statesman , retrieved 1 May 2011
  9. Faber, Michel (6 April 2011), "The Crimson Petal and the White: Watching My Novel Reborn on TV", The Guardian, retrieved 1 May 2011
  10. Sawers, Claire (24 March 2011), "Michel Faber Interview — The Crimson Petal and the White", The List , no. 679, retrieved 1 May 2011
  11. "RTS Announces Winners of Craft & Design Awards 2010/2011". Royal Television Society. November 2011. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  12. Goodacre, Kate (24 April 2012). "BAFTA Television Awards 2012: The nominees in full". Digital Spy . Hearst Magazines UK . Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  13. Douglas, Torin (23 February 2012). "Shortlists announced for Broadcasting Press Guild TV Awards". Broadcasting Press Guild . Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  14. "IFTA Nominees 2012 announced". RTÉ Ten . Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  15. Frost, Vicky (28 February 2012). "Royal Television Society awards: the nominations". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  16. Bibel, Sara (23 May 2013). "Nominations for Third Annual Critics Choice Television Awards Announced Including 'The Big Bang Theory' & 'American Horror Story: Asylum'". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.