Paterson Joseph is actually pretty friggin brilliant as an actor. Every role I've seen him play has facial expressions, Voice tones and inflections all their own!!
For the budget they had, I think they do a great job here. I saw this first when I was young and it always stayed with me...although I never put two and two together until recently that the Marquis De carabas was none other than the Johnson in disguise! Though it all makes sense now of course :) In fact, it stayed with me to the point that, years later, when I worked in London and had to travel on the older district, circle and Bakerloo lines, I would often try and look out the window in certain places where you could see more into the half glimpsed world of the underground, and imagine Neverwhere existing out there somewhere. Quite easy in a place as ridiculously old as London to imagine these hidden pockets of magical realms...although, of course, the true denizens of the underground world are a lot less magical and more pitiable than that! I read somewhere that Neil Gaiman was worried that his story would 'glamorize homelessness'...although, blimey...homeless people are given precious few bits of positive culture to identify with anyway!
The Marquis has to be my favourite character in fiction ever - love him! Completely fell in love with Paterson Joseph when this first aired on the BBC (well, I was fifteen and he's gorgeous). Always wondered though, the 'turn thrice widdershins' bit - does the marquis need to be summoned like some kind of demon or does he ask people to do this just to annoy them? It's never made clear if he's completely human (or anyone in London Below is), or something more supernatural...
The original TV series had its shortcomings, but I still loved it (just as much as I loved the novel that followed). And to me, Paterson Joseph will always be the definitive Marquis De Carabas.
The reason it looks cheap and theatrical is it was filmed on video, much like 1980's Doctor Who, while virtually all non-soap drama today is filmed on film, or put through a process to make it look like film, to make it look and feel more cinematic. Apparently, the were planning to 'filmise' the footage but didn't have the money. Digital by comparison is very unforgiving, especially for a fantasy series where the characters are meant to be 'theatrical'. There's certainly nothing wrong with these highly respected actors. It would be a great thing is someone finally managed to put it through a filter to give it a movie look and made it a DVD extra, or at least uploaded a few scenes to show us how it might have been.
I love the Marquis. He's such an over the top Character in every way. Haa! I have this both on vhs and dvd. I could watch it over and over. Such a weird and interesting Adventure.
The series actually came before the book. As the show was being filmed, Neil saved all of the bits of the script that he wrote and made additional notes when he saw the final cut. If you get the chance, find the DVD and watch all of the episodes with Neil Gaiman's commentary.
SmokingMagicMask It lacks all the atmosphere... I find live-action makes Neil's works come of as bland and uninteresting. I would have loved to create a 2D animation tv-show of Neverwhere and attempt to do the fascinatingly obscure world of London Below justice.
I wish a studio with a budget and an imagination would take " Neverwhere" and turn it into a fantasy classic, this novel screams for a larger than life canvas. I've read the book at least a dozen times and it's so cinematic.
I watched this show for the first time a couple years ago and I remember being little and having the book next to me reading along and hiding behind it during scary parts lol, I’m currently rereading the book and I thought it would be fun to watch clips of the show again
It's very enjoyable. I think they did a great job with Islington especially in this version. The book is better, and the radio play is very good as well and feels less "soap opera" in tone, but this is an enjoyable show all the same.
I always loved how he just had an array of items at his disposal. Like the torch he whacks out when they are in the tunnel! Where the fuck did it come from? What is it plugged into?
Most likely because this was the mid 90's, when Gaiman was still a relatively unknown writer and when fantasy and sci-fi were out of fashion. If it were made nowadays, it'd be on BBC3 with a bigger budget and more filmic production values. But, to be fair to the TV series, they worked hard with what they were given.
I'm almost at the end of the book, and either i forgot or never noticed in the text that Marquis de Carabas was black. I know Hunter is black, but i completely missed that de Carabas was.
Paterson Joseph is incredible... it's the intensity in his eyes. Wish we could have had him as the 11th doctor instead of some well-groomed potato named Matt.
Very interesting, Thorny. Veeery interesting. Can't wait to finish the book, mostly because what's in the box has been bugging me for the longest time.
Thanks for posting this! I know a lot of people hated this original series but I looooved it. I agree with Gaiman that the production values were shit, though. And oh yes Gary Bakewell is a cutie.
@HamHatter When the BBC "made" Gormenghast it suffered a similar fate to this...its partly to do with the lighting, I think...and partly with the inability of any T.V series to allow for moments of stillness, when we just look at something for a while. To really see how that can work (though not as a T.V format, admittedly) a great example is the film Stalker by Tarkovsky.
hmm, from the book I pictured de Carabas a being a lot slimmer, but still kind of fearsome, he's also bald in my vision. I also pictured him with a really deep voice.
I would love to see Neverwhere adapted into a film. With a budget big enough to properly represent the settings and characters unlike this. I like the graphic novel version of de carabas with unnaturally jet black skin with no disernable features other than mouth and eyes, and long white hair.
The radio drama is based on the novel that Gaiman wrote as a re-make of the TV series. as he wasn't entirely happy with how it turned out. I'd give it a warm recommendation if you can get your hands on it. While not available on the BBC site you "might" find it here on youtube.
I imagined De Carabass as looking like a combination of this, and of Clopin from the French opera Notre Dame de Paris. I LOVE how this actor portrays him, though I do think they could have gone without the white hair on top, and given his outfit just a touch more grime, but otherwise he's awesome!
I was initially sceptical but he seems pretty good. Did anyone notice at 2:31 the door opening sounds like the TARDIS door opening- squeaky. Coincidence?
Probably referring to the BBC radio drama that was released earlier this year. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Islington in it. Sadly no longer available for download on their site
Reading the book, did anyone else imagine the Marquis looking like the Boosh's Spirit of jazz? (probably only applies to late neverwhere readers) No? Just me then.
I imagined De Carabas as looking like either Daniel Day Lewis in a very disheveled, grimy and long haired with something of a debonair mustache and goatee gone wrong and his apparell withered and covered by the sewer grime, soot of chimneys and the dirt of the streets. It was either Daniel Day Lewis or Gary Oldman.
I've always pictured the Marquis as a slightly less eccentric version of Jack Sparrow, except with darker, olive colored skin. I really hope they nail the imagery of the novel in a movie or something, because this is just painful to watch.
The only thing wronf with the series was that a lot of stuff was cut and Hunter wasn't in a leather bikini. Everything else- the cast, the production, the sets- is fine.
I'm not quite sure which book any of you've read. I've never seen any movie that's as close to the book as Neverwhere is. Well, maybe, everybodyone creates differrent pictures in his/ her head, while reading the book. That may be the reason for your disappointment. Feel yourself lucky of having not been able to read "Pirates of the Carribean" before watching the movie. Maybe it would have been something of a shock. A movie never looks like the movie you've seen in your brain.
I'm not quite sure which book any of you've read. I've never seen any movie that's as close to the book, than Neverwhere is. Well, maybe, everybodyone creates differrent pictures in his/ her head, while reading the book. That may be the reason for your disappointment. Feel yourself lucky of having not been able to read "Pirates of the Carribean" before watching the movie. Maybe it would have been something of a shock. A movie never looks like the movie you've seen in your brain.
@HamHatter I think that the graphic novel adaptation with artwork by Glenn fabry is a much better representation. So maybe give that a try (if you havent already)
