Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV series)

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 of England in 1806, Mr Norrell (Eddie Marsan) of Hurtfew Abbey is able to use magic to make the statues of York Minster talk and move. His factotum, John Childermass (Enzo Cilenti) persuades him to travel to London in order to make magic respectable in the realm by offering his assistance as a practical magician to the Secretary of State for War, Sir Walter Pole, (Samuel West) a leading member of the government, in the war against France. After being initially rebuffed, Mr Norrell encounters Vinculus (Paul Kaye), a disreputable street magician — a man against whom and his ilk Norrell is dead-set — who gives him the prophecy of the Raven King stating he is one of two destined to be great magicians. Mr Norrell reconsiders his position on consultation with magical dilettantes and on learning of the recent death of the minister's fiancée (Alice Englert), he offers to bring her back to life. The offer is accepted whereupon he betrays his desire for respectable modern magic by conjuring up a fairy with ancient wild magic called the Gentleman with Thistledown Hair (Marc Warren), for his help in this resurrection and so strikes an ill-judged bargain. Meanwhile, while attempting to find a respectable profession as demanded by his love Arabella (Charlotte Riley), the rakish and somewhat dissolute Jonathan Strange (Bertie Carvel) also meets Vinculus, as the latter is sleeping rough under a bush. Strange is told by Vinculus that he is also destined to be a great magician so he begins to study magic after buying two of Mr Norrell's spells that Vinculus had pick-pocketed from Childermass. ==Cast==

• Bertie Carvel as Jonathan Strange, the rakish eldest son of the lord of the manor at Ashfair in the Shropshire Hills and apprentice magician under the tutelage of Mr Norrell • Eddie Marsan as Gilbert Norrell, self-taught practical magician and a reclusive owner of Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire • Charlotte Riley as Arabella Woodhope, the daughter of a clergyman, and later wife of Jonathan Strange • Marc Warren as the Gentleman with Thistledown Hair — the Fairy King of Lost-Hope and other places in the realm of Faerie • Samuel West as Sir Walter Pole MP, the Secretary of State for War • Alice Englert as Emma Wintertowne, the fiancée and later wife of Sir Walter Pole • Phoebe Nicholls as Mrs Wintertowne, mother of Emma, Lady Pole • Ariyon Bakare as Stephen Black, the butler and valet of Sir Walter Pole, the son of a slave who died in childbirth being transported across the Atlantic by Sir Walter's father • Enzo Cilenti as John Childermass, Mr Norrell's factotum and one-time pickpocket • Paul Kaye as Vinculus, a disreputable street magician on Threadneedle Street and pickpocket • Edward Hogg as John Segundus, a would-be magician of York and later keeper of a sanatorium with his friend, Mr Honeyfoot • Brian Pettifer as Mr Honeyfoot, a would-be magician of York and later keeper of a sanatorium with his friend, Mr Segundus • John Heffernan as Henry Lascelles, editor of the periodical The Friends of English Magic • Vincent Franklin as Christopher Drawlight, foppish friend of Henry Lascelles and self-appointed London social secretary of Mr Norrell • Ronan Vibert as Lord Wellington, commander of the British Army in the Napoleonic Wars • Jamie Parker as Colonel Grant, one of Wellington's officers and friend of Jonathan Strange • Richard Durden as Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland • Steve Jackson as Jeremy Johns, the valet of Jonathan Strange • Claudia Jessie as Mary, maid to the Stranges • Freddie Hogan as Davey • Robbie O'Neill as Lucas • Clive Mantle as Dr Greysteel, an Aberdonian physician holidaying in Venice after rescuing his daughter from Lord Byron • Lucinda Dryzek as Flora Greysteel, daughter of Dr Greysteel and one-time lover of Lord Byron • Niall Greig Fulton as the ancient Raven King ==Episodes==

Development Initially, New Line Cinema had the book under a three-year film-deal option worth seven figures with Christopher Hampton, writer of Dangerous Liaisons, to adapt it, then subsequently Julian Fellowes — both finding difficulties in condensing the length and dense narrative down — until New Line fell into financial difficulties and cancelled development. On 30 November 2012, the BBC announced that an adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell had been commissioned for BBC One. The production was officially greenlit as a seven-hour miniseries in April 2013, with a projected 2014 premiere date. BBC America noted that it would broadcast the miniseries during its "Supernatural Saturday" science fiction and fantasy programming block. Co-production credits are shared by Cuba Pictures and Feel Films for BBC in association with Attraction Images, Far Moor Productions, Screen Yorkshire, Endemol Shine Group, and Space. The co-production countries were United Kingdom (79.58%) and Canada (20.42%), and it was filmed in England, Canada, and on location in Croatia. 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. Filming began on 28 October 2013 in Yorkshire, Canada and Croatia. ==Broadcast==

The series premiered in the UK on BBC One from 17 May 2015. Later it was broadcast in the US on BBC America from 13 June 2015, in Canada on The Movie Network and Movie Central from 3 July 2015, and in Australia on BBC First from 6 August 2015. ==Reception==

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was positively received by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 92% rating, based on 37 reviews with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell sets engaging performances against an enchanting canvas, even if some of the magic from the source material gets lost along the way." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. 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. 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." 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."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."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." 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". Mike Hale of The New York Times called it "a largely unremarkable mini-series", adding: 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." ==References==