Posted in: BBC, HBO, TV | Tagged: bbc, HBO, his dark materials, scholastic sanctuary

Taking Scholastic Sanctuary in "His Dark Materials"

Published Mon, 04 Nov 2019 12:45:27 -0600

Yesterday evening I snuggled down with the family to watch His Dark Materials on the BBC. The kids were all ready for bed, the fire was raging, expectations were high – and were met. The Johnstons are very much a Pullman-worshipping household and His Dark Materials and its Dust-based sequels/prequels , we loved the books and were very fine with the Golden Compass movie, but this was another level.

With far more room to spread out than the hurried movie, we begin with the delivery of Lyra by James MacAvoy, under the principle of "scholastic sanctuary", a separation of the Church and of Learning, that the movie ignored, but was such a principal reason for Lyra's safety in the Oxford colleges, even as she dances and jumps across the rooftops and spires. She lives in a bubble, yearning to burst it, but when the moment comes, it is suddenly scary and real. It's not just England out there, but Gilead.

And it's with the arrival and journey of the Gyptians that gives this series its heart as well as its head, a longer journey to London that what the airship promises, and a real sense of terror of when a parent loses a child, and giving that role to Anne-Marie Duff – though hopefully not too many awkward moments with her former Shameless costar and former husband James MacAvoy. MacAvoy as Lord Asriel is… okay in this. These are early days, he is all about his performance to the other dons and deans of the university, which encourages a certain hamminess, but we know there is much more to come from his character.

What is really handled well is the move from the deadly threat of the college by Clarke Peter's Master to MacAvoy's Lord Asriel, to a real sense of worry, care and concern for Lyra. It's a hard pivot but His Dark Materials pulls it off. With that in its pocket, the machinations of church and state are easy-peasy. And there is no reticence in drawing parallels of the Magisterium to organised religion at all – with the Gyptians seen as a gnostic and pagan alternative, slipping under their eye.

But it is Ruth Wilson as Mrs Coulter steals so much of the scenes she is in, bringing the moral uncertainty that stood her so well as Alice in Luthor. Gloriously, fascinatingly evil, with a pure purpose and drive, with her deadly smile around the edges. Evil should always be this polite.

This is but episode one. There is a long way to go till the North… and this is a journey we can all take together as a family that should hopefully take us closer to the return of Doctor Who. It would be nice for us all to segue from one directly to the other. We all went to sleep cuddling our daemons in hope… and wondering if our althiometers might be able to help.

His Dark Materials airs on Sunday night on BBC One and Mondays on HBO.