His Dark Materials – Lyra’s Jordan Review (A Book Fan’s Perspective)

The BBC/HBO adaptation of His Dark Materials has finally arrived. It is a long-awaited TV adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s acclaimed series of novels and the biggest British TV series ever made.

In an alternative world the Magisterium has ruled and oppressed for centuries. In this world people have a dæmon, the physical embodiment of their soul. Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen), is a 12-year-old orphan who lives under the protection of Jordan College in Oxford. Lyra longs to visit the North and ends up getting caught up in a big conspiracy when she interrupts an assassination attempt on her uncle, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy). At the same time the Gyptian community is suffering: there children are disappearing and the police show no interest in investigating.

His Dark Materials is one of my favourite book series, so I was excited to see them get adapted for TV. The signs before the show were encouraging before it even broadcast. It had a budget of £40 million and had big names working in front of and behind the camera. It has big name and respected actors like James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, Anne-Marie Duff, and James Cosmo in the cast whilst Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper helmed the first episode. Jack Thrones, one of the most in-demand writers in the British TV and film industry wrote the adaptation, and Mission: Impossible – Fallout composer, Lorne Balfe wrote the music for the show.

The first few minutes of “Lyra’s Jordan” wanted to show off its budget and special effects. Before the title sequence, the episode showed a flooded Oxford in prologue sequence, Lyra and Roger (Lewin Lloyd) race through Jordan College with their dæmons changing in an instant and Lord Asriel making a scientific discovery in the North. The prologue was taken from the prequel novel La Belle Sauvage and made the series open a bit like Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone.

As an adaptation of the few chapters “Lyra’s Jordan” was fairly faithful. It followed the key story beats like Lyra stopping the assassination attempt, learning about Dust, meeting Mrs. Coulter (Wilson), and Lyra being given the alethiometer. The few changes were fairly minor, like where Lyra entered to stop the assassination – hardly ruining the story.

The first novel was written mostly from Lyra’s perspective, so the first episode added story elements. The biggest addition was showing the events from the Gyptians’ point-of-view. This was logical because they are marginalised people, so no-one would care if their children disappeared. The idea behind their scenes was to show the wider plot of the series – mainly the Gobblers taking children and forcing the Gypitans to take action. It also shows the culture of the Gyptians who are hardy, practical people and stand in contrast to the ornate surroundings of Oxford. The series added a ceremony where one person’s dæmon has settled into its permanent form. There was never any reference to this in the novel. Presumably the showrunners wanted to show this to be an important milestone for people in this world.

Another additional scene involved the introduction of Father MacPhail (Will Keen) and Lord Boreal (Ariyon Bakare). They simply discuss Asriel finding out about the assassination attempt and they need to act without letting ‘her’ be aware. There’s nothing wrong showing the Magisterium planning – even the 2007 film did this, but this scene was the most frustrating despite the short amount of screentime because there were a number of changes from the novel. Father MacPhail is now English instead of Scottish and Lord Boreal is a black man in his 40s instead of a Caucasian man in his 60s.

This scene showed one of my big worries about the show, the modernisation.  Their meeting takes place in a concrete theatre. In the novels Lyra’s world was Victorian in style. Oxford was gothic, London was dark and industrial, soldiers dressed in colourful uniforms and used bolt-action rifles, and girls wrote skirts and dresses because it wasn’t expected for them to wear trousers. It takes away one of the book’s most unique aspects.

His Dark Materials has a talented cast. The role of Lyra was Dafne Keen’s first since starring in Logan and she seemed like a great choice for the character. She was great with Roger as they played and talked but she is not quite as wild as the novel version. Ruth Wilson was perfect as Mrs. Coulter who was introduced halfway through the episode and she had a commanding presence when she visited Jordan College. She acted kind and attentive to Lyra, being a strong female presence in the child’s life. The final shot of the Golden Monkey dæmon offers a real insight of her character.

However, this version of Lord Asriel was disappointing. In the novel he was a cold and practical man and a distant figure in her life. In the show McAvoy’s version is well too fatherly and caring. This was shown in two ways – the first was the heartbreak when he had to give Lyra to the Master of Jordan College (Clark Peters), and when he carries her up to her room. His dæmon showed more of Asriel’s book incarnation. Nor does it help that McAvoy has a youthful look when I pictured a more harden looking man. It’s not like McAvoy cannot play a dark role, he did it in Filth and Split, so his portrayal is more down to the writing and direction.

“Lyra’s Jordan” does what it needed to do, sets up the world, some of the main characters and the major plotlines that series will go through. It’s a promising start and hopefully the series will go from strength-to-strength.