His Dark Materials is a British television series commissioned by the BBC as an adaptation of the eponymous trilogy of novels of the same name by Philip Pullman. Series 1, written by Jack Thorne and spanning 8 episodes, was announced in 2015 with filming starting in 2018.
Series 1 first aired on 3 November 2019 on BBC One and was released internationally from 4 November by HBO. Series 2 was commissioned before Series 1 had begun airing and, despite COVID-19, will air in 2020. Further series have not yet been announced
His Dark Materials is a drama series and is set in a parallel world, following the story of Lyra Belacqua, her dæmon Pantalaimon, Iorek Byrnison and also of William Parry. It has been rated as TV-14 in the US.[5]
Background
Edit
Series 1 is based upon the events of Northern Lights and follows the story of Lyra Belacqua on her quest in search of her missing friend, Roger Parslow, where she encounters witches, Panserbjørne like Iorek Byrnison, gyptians, and aëronauts whilst finding out about Dust.
CastEdit
Lead rolesEdit
- Ariyon Bakare as Lord Boreal
- Dafne Keen as Lyra Silvertongue
- Simone Kirby as Mary Malone
- James McAvoy as Lord Asriel
- Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby
- Andrew Scott as John Parry
- Amir Wilson as William Parry
- Ruth Wilson as Marisa Coulter
AngelsEdit
Bolvangar staffEdit
- Morfydd Clark as Sister Clara
- Charlie Robinson as Nurse Charlotte
- Kate Rutter as Sister Betty
- Amit Shah as Dr Rendal
- Lia Williams as Dr Cooper
ChildrenEdit
- Martha Bright as Bella
- Raffiella Chapman as Annie
- Mary Fernandez as Esme
- Eva Jazani as Bridget McGinn
- Ruby Llewelyn as Rose
- Lewin Lloyd as Roger Parslow
- Bella Ramsey as Angelica
- Mia Pearse as a Bolvangar child
- Amma Ris as Martha
- Ella Schrey-Yeats as Paola
DæmonsEdit
- Cristela Alonzo as the voice of Hester
- Kit Connor as the voice of Pantalaimon
- Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù as the voice of Sergi
- Brian Fisher as the voice of the Golden Monkey[6]
- Eloise Little as the voice of Salcilia
- Helen McCrory as the voice of Stelmaria
- Libby Rodliffe as the voice of Lyuba
- Phoebe Scholfield as the voice of Alicia
- David Suchet as the voice of Kaisa
- Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the voice of Sayan Kötör
GyptiansEdit
- Geoff Bell as Jack Verhoeven
- James Cosmo as Coram van Texel
- Anne-Marie Duff as Ma Costa
- Mat Fraser as Raymond van Gerrit
- Daniel Frogson as Tony Costa
- Tyler Howitt as Billy Costa
- Simon Manyonda as Benjamin de Ruyter
- Lucian Msamati as John Faa
- Eva Musik as a gyptian
- Daniel Woolf as Gyptian (uncredited)
Jordan College staffEdit
- Richard Cunningham as Chaplain
- Ian Gelder as Charles
- Patrick Godfrey as Wren
- Philip Goldacre as Sub-Rector
- Boo Golding as Seamstress
- Tiago Martins as Subfusc
- Clarke Peters as Dr Carne
- Joakim Skarli as Scholar
- Simon Strutt as the Porter
MagisteriumEdit
- Frank Bourke as Pavel Rasek
- Will Keen as Hugh MacPhail
- David Langham as Father Garret
- Rich Lawton as River Police
- Ian Peck as Cardinal Sturrock
- Tim Wildman as Magisterium Secret Police (uncredited)
PanserbjørneEdit
- Joi Johannsson as Iofur Raknison
- Peter Serafinowicz as the voice of Iofur Raknison
- Joe Tandberg as the voice of Iorek Byrnison
WitchesEdit
- Jade Anouka as Ruta Skadi
- Omid Djalili as Martin Lanselius
- Ruta Gedmintas as Serafina Pekkala
- Leanne Holder as a Lake Enara clan witch
- Remmie Milner as Lena Feldt
OtherEdit
- Asheq Akhtar as Jotham Santelia
- Kirsty Besterman as Sam Cansino
- Sarah Brazier as a Londoner
- Vivien Bridson as Fisher Woman
- Georgina Campbell as Adèle Starminster
- Louise Cowen as a PhD student
- Nabil Elouahabi as Bright Eyed Man
- Robert Emms as Thomas
- Ray Fearon as Mr Hanway
- Juke Hardy as Blacksmith
- Michael Kerry White as a Running Tourist
- Cameron King as Toby
- Gary Lewis as Thorold
- Pino Maiello as Oxford Fellow (uncredited)
- Katarina Martin as Marisa Coulter's guest
- Harry Melling as Sysselman
- Henry Miller as a porter
- Robin Pearce as Oliver Payne
- Pasi Remsu as Samoyed Hunter
- Nina Sosanya as Elaine Parry
- Terence Stamp as Giacomo Paradisi
- Cath Whitefield as WPC Jenkins
- Jamie Wilkes as Pale-Faced Man
ProductionEdit
Film adaptationEdit
- Main article: The Golden Compass (film)
After successes of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the His Dark Materials books, which were published between 1995 and 2000, were optioned. This led to the development of the 2007 film, The Golden Compass. However, the film removed some of the key areas of the book, like references to religion and the Holy Church, which Chris Weitz (director of the film) blamed for the shortcomings. The Catholic Church called for a boycott, and New Line got spooked. Sam Elliott blamed the Church for forcing the cancellations of the sequels, while some believed poor reviews may have been the reason.
DevelopmentEdit
Philip Pullman, in his 2012 Mother Jones interview, was interested in giving His Dark Materials another shot, this time as a television series. The BBC, in November 2015, publicly announced plans to adapt the book series into a television series in association with Bad Wolf and HBO. Pullman was named the series' executive producer along with Deborah Forte.[2]
Pre-productionEdit
Pre-production was originally planned for autumn 2016, with the project announced in 2015, but casting was only in the process of finalisation in early 2018.[7]
FilmingEdit
Series 1 clapperboard
Series 2 clapperboard
The first series was filmed mainly in the UK (Cardiff and Oxford) and the Arctic (although the cast never filmed there).[7] On 14 December 2018, it was announced via Twitter that filming for the first series had wrapped.[8]
Cittàgazze being built at Bad Wolf Studios
Series 2 began filming in June at various locations across the UK[9] although filming officially began during the week of the 29th July with filming going on for five months until just before Christmas.[10] However, they finished only seven out of eight before the COVID-19 pandemic hit[11] and the eighth episode (a standalone episode about Lord Asriel) which was filmed in March 2020 was not completed before work on TV productions was halted due to the pandemic.
A further series covering the adaptation of The Amber Spyglass has not been approved as of yet. The show was originally said to cover 5 series but it has since been stated that each book will only have one series.[12] Jane Tranter has said that a third series covering The Amber Spyglass might need more than eight episodes[13] and added in April 2020 that they are 'about to start developing' the scripts for Series 3.[14]
ReleaseEdit
BroadcastEdit
On 18 July, 2019, the show hosted a panel at San Diego Comic Con where an Autumn 2019 release date was announced and an extended trailer revealed.[15] A preview of the show in London was premiered by the BFI on October 15[16] and another in Cardiff the following day.
The first series is split into episodes of 8 each roughly an hour long. The first episode, Lyra's Jordan, aired on 3 November 2019 in the UK and 4 November internationally; however Dafne Keen's mother revealed in August 2019 on Instagram (since deleted) that the release would be on 3 November. The series aired (in the UK) exactly four years after the production for the show was planned.[17] The day/a few days before each episode was aired, a teaser clip was released on the BBC website.
The show aired normally at 8pm GMT in the UK and 9pm ET in the US. The earlier UK slot, rather than the typical 9pm slot for Sunday-night dramas, allowed younger children the chance to watch it live.[18] The only exception to this was the seventh episode (The Fight to the Death) which began an hour later in the UK due to the live event 'BBC Sports Personality of the Year', this was later pushed back to 9:10 because the event ran over.
An early preview of the sixth episode, The Daemon-Cages, took place at Mayfair Theatre with the Royal Television Society, three days prior to its broadcast on the BBC. All episodes from Series 1 were released onto BBC iPlayer following their broadcast until 21 June 2020 however, upon this date, their availability was extended indefinitely. All episodes are available in UHD.
Following the full series broadcast, a rewatch of the first episode was staged on 26 April 2020 where various members of the cast and crew posted details about the series. Just after the rewatch, the programme Making His Dark Materials was released onto BBC iPlayer and showed the making of the series.
On 9 July 2020 (the 25th anniversary of the original publication of Northern Lights), mirroring the previous year, it was announced that the show would host another panel at Comic Con on 23 July, although this time remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first full trailer was released at this time.[19] At the panel, it was revealed that one of the standalone episodes in the second series had not been completed and would not air leaving the series with only 7 episodes.
Home mediaEdit
| Series | Release date | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DVD | Blu-ray | ||||
| Region 2 | Region 1 | Region B | Region B (steelbook) | Region A | |
| 1 | 27 January 2020 | 4 August 2020 | 27 January 2020 | 27 January 2020 | 4 August 2020 |
Region 2 DVD, Blu-ray, and steelbook editions of the first series were posted on Amazon UK in late 2019 and were then published on 27 January, 2020.[20][21] All three copies included all eight episodes, four art cards, and several non-exclusive bonus features about the making of the series: Introducing His Dark Materials, The Daemons: His Dark Materials, Building His Dark Materials, Dressing His Dark Materials, and Adapting His Dark Materials (which were made available on the BBC website prior to the DVD release). There were three discs in total.
A Region 1 DVD and blu-ray were announced on 14 May 2020 for a release date on 4 August 2020 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Split over two discs, there are: the eight episodes, interviews with the cast and four of the Region 2 bonus features as well as the exclusive Making His Dark Materials programme.[22]
Merchandise and book tie-insEdit
Scholastic published Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass TV tie-in books on 3 October 2019 in the UK[23][24][25] and 1 October in the US.[26]
Jane Tranter stated on Twitter that any merchandising would have to come from BBC Studios and HBO.[27]
SoundtracksEdit
The first soundtrack for the series, The Musical Anthology of His Dark Materials, was released on 3 November 2019[28] with the second, His Dark Materials Original Television Soundtrack, was released on 20 December 2019.[29]
EpisodesEdit
Series 1Edit
| # | Episode name | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate (UK) | Original airdate (US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lyra's Jordan | Tom Hooper | Jack Thorne | 3rd November 2019 | 4th November 2019 |
| 2 | The Idea of North | Tom Hooper | Jack Thorne | 10th November 2019 | 11th November 2019 |
| 3 | The Spies | Dawn Shadforth | Jack Thorne | 17th November 2019 | 18th November 2019 |
| 4 | Armour | Otto Bathurst | Jack Thorne | 24th November 2019 | 25th November 2019 |
| 5 | The Lost Boy | Otto Bathurst | Jack Thorne | 1st December 2019 | 2nd December 2019 |
| 6 | The Daemon-Cages | Euros Lyn | Jack Thorne | 8th December 2019 | 9th December 2019 |
| 7 | The Fight to the Death | Jamie Childs | Jack Thorne | 15th December 2019 | 16th December 2019 |
| 8 | Betrayal | Jamie Childs | Jack Thorne | 22nd December 2019 | 23rd December 2019 |
Series 2Edit
| # | Episode name | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate (UK) | Original airdate (US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TBA | Jamie Childs | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 2 | TBA | Jamie Childs | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 3 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 4 | TBA | Leanne Welham | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 5 | TBA | William McGregor
& Anthony Byrne | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 6 | TBA | Jamie Childs | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 7 | TBA | Jamie Childs | TBA | TBA | TBA |
MediaEdit
- Main article: His Dark Materials (TV series)/gallery
TrailersEdit
External linksEdit
- His Dark Materials on the Internet Movie Database
- His Dark Materials on Bad Wolf's site
- His Dark Materials on BBC Programmes
- His Dark Materials on HBO
- His Dark Materials on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
- HBO His Dark Materials on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
Notes and referencesEdit
- ↑ The Artists Partnership
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 BBC - BBC commissions adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials
- ↑ Independent Talent
- ↑ Troika
- ↑ His Dark Materials website HBO
- ↑ Marisa Coulter's dæmon does not speak but Fisher provides his vocalisations. As lead puppeteer and CFX coordinator on the series, he also worked extensively with Ruth Wilson during filming to create the monkey's movements via puppet — Variety
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Digital Spy - His Dark Materials TV series on the BBC: Casting, characters, start date - everything you need to know
- ↑ Twitter - https://twitter.com/darkmaterials/status/1073639534372511744
- ↑ His Dork Materials on Twitter
- ↑ The Knowledge Online
- ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-52900246
- ↑ Twitter - Dan McCullock
- ↑ Jane Tranter on Twitter
- ↑ His Dark Materials Twitter
- ↑ BFI
- ↑ BBC His Dark Materials
- ↑ The Guardian
- ↑ Comic Con At Home
- ↑ Blue-ray on Amazon
- ↑ DVD on Amazon
- ↑ Screen Connections
- ↑ Northern Lights on Amazon
- ↑ The Subtle Knife on Amazon
- ↑ The Amber Spyglass on Amazon
- ↑ The Golden Compass on Amazon
- ↑ Jane Tranter on Twitter
- ↑ Film Music Reporter
- ↑ Film Music Reporter
| His Dark Materials TV episodes | |
|---|---|
| Series 1 | Lyra's Jordan • The Idea of North • The Spies • Armour • The Lost Boy • The Daemon-Cages • The Fight to the Death • Betrayal |
| Other | Making His Dark Materials |
