The City and The City

Beszel and Ul Qoma are two cities that share the same space. The people, the buildings and the institutions of one city must be ignored by residents of the other, on the pain of arrest by the secret police, Breach. When a young woman from Ul Qoma is found dead in Beszel, Inspector Tyador Borlu must investigate to see if a Breach has occurred...but the case reminds him of the disappearance of his wife some years earlier. As Borlu investigates, the trail leads him to Ul Qoma and the chance to solve more than just one mystery.

China Mieville is one of Britain's finest novelists, a writer of the macabre, the strange and the weird who writes in an accessible but memorable style. The City and The City, originally published in 2009, is one of his most stripped-back and accessible novels, the weirdness dialled back to just the idea of the two cities coexisting in the same space. That backdrop is then used to explore the characters and the central murder mystery.

This 4-part BBC television adaptation is a fine take on Mieville's work. David Morrissey (Britannia, The Walking Dead) plays Tyador Borlu, imbuing him with just the right mix of world-weary cynicism, hope and even romanticism as he tries to find answers to the puzzles in his life. Katrynia, played by Laura Pulver (Sherlock), is a new addition to the story and at first glance the inclusion of a "dead/missing wife" as a motivational factor for the main character feels a bit cliche. It does help in giving Borlu a personal connection to the mysterious relationship between the two cities, rather than having it remain an abstract background phenomenon (as in the first half of the novel), and it also creates more storytelling possibilities through flashbacks.

The rest of the cast is accomplished, with Mandeep Dhillon exceptional as the sweary Constable Corwi and Maria Schrader doing a great job as Detective Dhatt, Borlu's Ul Qoman opposite number. Production is also of a high standard, with a great musical score and some very impressive set dressing to sell various parts of Liverpool and Manchester as the twin cities. Some might argue that using two of Britain's best-known cities to serve as the backdrop for a series playing initially to British audiences is a bit weird, but for the most part it works, transporting the viewer to an imaginary microstate on the borders of eastern Europe.

At four hours to adapt a 350-page novel, the drama is just the right length and doesn't outstay its welcome. There are some issues with pacing and exposition, however. The premise is unusual and the series goes pretty far in the first episode in ensuring that viewers get the idea. Given the number of viewers who reported feeling extremely confused, it clearly didn't go far enough for some, but for others (and particularly those who've read the novel), the constant reiteration of the twin cities idea and "unseeing" started getting in the way of telling the story at hand. Also, and this is really minor, the novel ends on a pitch-perfect line and I was surprised that the TV show did not do the same thing.

Overall, The City and The City (****) is a fine slice of television drama, with an accomplished cast and some great visual storytelling. The handling of the unusual premise could have been handled more elegantly, perhaps, but overall this is a great first adaptation of a China Mieville novel and hopefully not the last. The series is available on DVD in the UK and to watch via Amazon Video, but bizarrely a Blu-Ray release has not been listed. There is also no American release listed at this time.

The BBC release all of THE CITY AND THE CITY online

The BBC has released all four episodes of The City and The City on the BBC iPlayer service. They aired the first episode in the traditional manner last night.

The BBC's impressive adaptation of China Mieville's novel has already picked up strong critical reviews, although some casual viewers were apparently confused by the bewildering premise of two cities built around and through one another where the citizens of one city cannot "see" or interact with those of the other on pain of arrest, which makes the investigation of a cross-border murder a complex affair.

Trailers and airdate for the TV adaptation of China Mieville's THE CITY AND THE CITY

The BBC have released the first trailers and teasers for their adaptation of China Mieville's novel The City and The City. This is a trailer for the whole series:

This is an "orientation guide" for visitors to the twin cities:

There is also an article on how Dr. Alison Long created the language of Illitan (the language used in Ul Qoma) here.

The City and The City begins on Friday 6 April on BBC2 in the UK. I've already seen a preview of the first episode and you can read my thoughts here.

Preview: THE CITY AND THE CITY TV series

I had the great fortune tonight to be able to attend a screening of the first episode of The City and The City, a four-part BBC TV adaptation of China Mieville's 2009 novel of the same time.

In both the novel and the TV series, the setting is a fictional region of Eastern Europe, abutting the Black Sea, which is the home of two cities: Beszel and Ul Qoma. The two cities are distinct, with different languages, alphabets, styles of dress and architecture. In particular, Beszel is a slightly run-down city in decline whilst Ul Qoma is a somewhat more technologically advanced city of gleaming skyscrapers. However, for reasons that are unclear, the two cities have been fused into the same geographical space. Buildings from one city stand alongside those from the other and some streets are divided right down the middle between the two cities. Citizens of both cities are taught from childhood to "unsee" people, places and things from the other city, to ignore them and not talk to them. If someone has to travel to the other city, they must gain authorisation and cross over at a formal crossing point; even if they only want to travel geographical distance of a few metres. Any violation of this barrier is strictly punished by "Breach", a secret police force with, it is rumoured, supernatural abilities.

The story opens with a murder. Inspector Tyador Borlu is called in to investigate when the body of a young woman is discovered in Beszel. Complications arise when it is discovered that the woman is an American student who had been attending university in Ul Qoma, but no Breach has occurred. The odd nature of the death leads Borlu to cross the border and work alongside his Ul Qoman counterpart to discover what happened, and what bearing it might have on the two cities.

From left: screenwriter Tony Grisoni, actors Mandeep Dhillon and David Morrissey, producer Preethi Mavahalli

China Mieville's novel is short but complex, dense and literate. It's also relatively straightforward as a story and practical as a production: adapting, say, Perdido Street Station or The Scar would be far beyond the capabilities of anyone save perhaps Amazon or Netflix. Turning The City and The City into a visual adaptation requires a degree of exposition mostly missing from the novel (where the unusual situation is gradually unveiled over the first chapter or two) and several devices are used in the script to convey the weirdness: Tyador (played by David Morrisey) provides a brief voiceover at the start of the first episode and he occasionally narrates key moments of the action, a surprisingly old-fashioned device which is nevertheless effective. Visual effects also sell the idea: the part of the city Tyador is in is shown in perfect focus, whilst the other city is shown blurred and indistinct, like water on glass, until Tyador makes a conscious effort to "see" the other city, when it snaps briefly into legibility. The two cities are also filmed with different colour gradings, with Beszel tending towards a darker, brownish tint and Ul Qoma towards a lighter, bluer one.

The first ten minutes or so are a bit rough, especially for readers of the novel who may be surprised by how incredibly faithful it is to the novel one moment and how it goes off on its own tangent the next: there are major additions to the cast of characters and story. This makes sense: the episode was longer than the standard hour (I didn't get the exact runtime but it seemed to be around 65-70 minutes) and there are four of them, which means the TV show is in the unusual position of having more time to tell the story than the relatively short novel has (which barely scrapes 300 pages). The new material is, for the most part, well-judged and intelligently deployed. Giving Tyador a wife seemed an unnecessary change, but by having her vanish in a suspected act of Breach immediately personalises the strange situation in the city: rather than the split (and Breach) being remote forces Tyador is aware of, they are instead deeply personal affronts that frustrate him. It gives the premise an immediacy not present in the novel but which works wonderfully on screen.

Author China Mieville engaged in exchanges with the cast from the audience, and noted his approval of the project.

Once the initial hump of exposition is surmounted, the story kicks into full gear. The worldbuilding is superb: The City and The City was filmed in the distinctly un-Eastern European cities of Liverpool and Manchester, but some tremendously detailed street signage and wearing of buildings creates the illusion these are remote cities on the edge of reality. All of the street signs in Beszel are presented in English (albeit one with Cyrillic-style accents and ornamentation), with English also the spoken language, but Ul Qoma has its own alphabet and spoken language (both invented specifically for this series). Tower blocks are dirtied up, streets turned into bustling, crowded markets and technology is deliberately rolled back: people use Betamax tapes, listen to audio cassettes, watch CRT TVs, drive old cars and cordless phones have huge aerials like it's 1983. From the glimpses we get (the first episode ends with Tyador deciding he has to visit the other city), Ul Qoma is a far more advanced and modern city.

The actors are superb: David Morrissey is best-known to American audiences from his role playing the Governor in Seasons 3 and 4 of The Walking Dead, but he has an impressive resume in the UK, taking in everything from Doctor Who to Red Riding. He always brings intensity and integrity to everything he does, but in The City and The City he also invokes a rare performance of vulnerability as well. Mandeep Dhillon (Some Girls, 24, Doctor Who) plays Corwi, a police officer assigned to help Tyador, and she brings an earthy realism to the story, helped by an impressive swearing repertoire.

A narrative fan map of Ul Qoma and Beszel.

All in all, The City and The City's first episode was impressive, being atmospheric and compelling, and hopefully the rest of the series will continue in this vein. A four-minute trailer for the rest of the series looks appropriately epic.

The City and The City will debut on BBC2 in April 2018.

First images from the TV version of China Mieville's THE CITY AND THE CITY

Courtesy of Pan Macmillan, we have the first official publicity images from the TV mini-series version of China Mieville's The City and The City.

Tyador Borlu (David Morrisey) and Corwi (Mandeep Dhillon). Tyador is, presumably, in Ul Qoma and Corwi is in Beszel in this scene...despite them sitting right next to each other. The differentiation between the two cities will apparently be done though colour filters.

Based on Mieville's 2009 novel, the story is set in the cities of Beszel and Ul Qoma, which coexist at the same point in space and time after an unspecified existential catastrophe. A police detective is called in to investigate a murder which crosses jurisdictions between the two cities. As well as solving the murder, he must tread carefully around "Breach", the mysterious force which - brutally, if necessary - enforces the separation of the two cities.

David Morrisey as Tyador Borlu.

The TV mini-series adapts the book as four, 1-hour episodes. The series will air on BBC2 in "late spring", which we take to mean around May. Pan currently has a new TV tie-in edition of the book listed for release on 12 July, which doesn't quite track with the "late spring" date, but that date may be a placeholder until the BBC themselves confirm the airdate.

Lara Pulver as Katrynia.

The series stars David Morrisey (best-known, perhaps, as the Governor in The Walking Dead) as police detective Tyador Borlu, with Mandeep Dhillon (Some Girls) as Constable Corwi of the Beszel Policzai. Maria Shrader, Ron Cook, Danny Webb and Christian Camargo also star.

The Czech covers for China Mieville's novels are awesome

Behold below the Czech cover art for the novels (and one short story collection) of China Mieville:

On the top row, from left, that's King Rat, Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council and Looking for Jake. On the bottom row, from left, there's Un Lun Dun, The City and The City, Kraken, Embassytown and Railsea.

You may recognise the cover art for Perdido Street Station and The Scar from the original UK editions from Pan Macmillan. The artwork is all by Edward Miller (a pseudonym for artist Les Edwards), also known for his work for PS Publishing (including on the Malazan limited editions and on Scott Lynch's books). After The Scar came out the UK publishers decided to switch to a more generic and standard art style before switching again for the dark, moody covers they are still using today. Although these are okay, the surreal and bizarre imagery from Miller was very appropriate for Mieville's work and it was a shame to see him go.

The Czech publishers clearly agreed, as they retained Miller to keep working on the cover art for their editions of the novels. I couldn't find any information on a Czech edition of Three Moments of an Explosion, This Census-Taker or The Last Days of New Paris, so it's unknown if they will continue to use Miller for their works.

Thanks to Outthere Books for spotting this intriguing development.

David Morrissey cast in THE CITY AND THE CITY adaptation

Veteran British actor David Morrissey will head the cast for the BBC's adaptation of the China Mieville novel The City and The City. Morrissey will be playing the role of Inspector Tyador Borlu, a police detective in the city of Beszel who gets caught up in a murder investigation.

The City and The City is a cross-agency murder mystery with a twist: the twin cities of Beszel and Ul-Qoma coexist at the same point in space/time, with people, shops and buildings from the two cities jumbled alongside one another. People can transit from one city to another through special checkpoints, but any attempt to interfere in the operations of one city from the other results in a "Breach" with potentially catastrophic results.

It's a bizarre, dizzying concept to get across in prose and I'm curious how the BBC are going to handle it on screen. I've liked the idea of the "current" city being in colour and all the buildings, people and objects from the other city being in black and white, with it reversing when the characters cross over, but that might be a little too hokey (and expensive).

David Morrissey is one of Britain's best actors, first attracting notice for the 1992 mini-series Framed in which he starred with Timothy Dalton and Penelope Cruz. His subsequent roles included TV shows such as Our Mutual Friend and Sense and Sensibility. In 2008 he starred alongside David Tennant in a memorable Doctor Who Christmas special. More recently, of course, he attracted renewed fame and attention for his role as the Governor in the third and fourth seasons of The Walking Dead.

This is excellent news and raises interest for this already intriguing project. The City and The City is filming now and should air in 2018.

China Mieville's THE CITY AND THE CITY to become a TV series

The BBC has announced that it will be adapting China Mieville's 2009 novel The City and the City as a four-part mini-series.

The series will air on BBC2 and is being written by Tony Grisoni, known for co-writing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Tideland with Terry Gilliam, as well as TV series such as Red Riding and Southcliffe. Grisoni is an offbeat and interesting scriptwriter, and would seem a perfect match for the novel.

The book is set in the city of Besźel, which coexists at the same point in space and time with the city of Ul Quoma; residents of the two cities have to ignore one another, can't go into buildings that are in the "other" city and have to cross over at specially-designated border posts. Any transgression of these rules is retaliated against by a (possibly) supernatural force. A murder in one of the cities leads the investigating detective on a dizzying journey which incorporates both cities and the forces which control them.

"We are thrilled to be bringing China's dazzlingly inventive novel to BBC Two. It's a 21st Century classic - a truly thrilling and imaginative work which asks big questions about how we perceive the world and how we interact with each other."

No airdate for the series has yet been set, although at this point it'll likely be late 2016 or some time in 2017.

THE CITY AND THE CITY on stage in Chicago

The Lifeline Theatre in Chicago is staging an adaptation of China Mieville's 2009 novel The City and The City. The preview run starts today and will continue to 24 February, with the full run taking place from 28 February to 7 April.

There will be a joint performance/signing even on 16 March, with China Mieville attending to sign books and talk about the play. Mieville recently relocated from London to Chicago.

The City and the City wins yet another award

China Mieville's 2009 novel, The City and the City, has won another major award. This time the book was the recipient of the 2010 World Fantasy Award. It has already won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the BSFA Award. Amongst the major awards, that means the novel has only missed out on the Locus and Nebula.


Congratulations to China on his success. His next novel, Embassytown, is due in May 2011.

China Mieville wins the Arthur C. Clark Award

Topically, given the subject of my latest book review, China Mieville tonight won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel of 2009 for his previous novel, The City and The City. This is the third time Mieville has won the award, having previously won in 2005 for Iron Council and in 2001 for Perdido Street Station.


Mieville is reportedly 'absolutely gobsmacked' over the win. The other nominees were Spirit by Gwyneth Jones, Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts, Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson, Far North by Marcel Theroux and Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding.

Update: China Mieville's acceptance speech.

The City and The City by China Mieville

Note: there is an informal 'embargo', at the author's request, on reviews giving away the central 'twist' to this novel before it is released. This makes it one of the toughest reviews I've had to write. I will revisit the novel in this thread once it is released to explore these issues in more depth.


On the eastern edge of Europe lies the city of Beszel. A young American archaeology student is murdered and Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Extreme Crimes Squad is called in to investigate. At first the case appears to have been a cross-border violation between Beszel and its close neighbour of Ul Qoma, with whom it shares frosty relations, necessitating the calling in of the far better-equipped 'Breach' department to deal with the matter. When it is revealed that the border crossing was handled legally, Borlu finds himself seconded to Ul Qoma to aid their end of the investigation, working alongside Senior Detective Qussim Dhatt. Their investigation soon turns deadly and Borlu has to consider dangerous acts if he is to bring the murderer to justice.


China Mieville's latest novel has been heralded by advance publicity as his best, but that's a bit of a stretch. Mieville has explored the urban environment in many interesting and refreshing ways, but given he's covered the same ground now in five previous novels and many more short stories, it could be said that this is yet another visit to a well that is starting to run dry. There is a totally brilliant but completely impractical conceit at the heart of The City and The City which makes reading it an oddly tricky task: the story is gripping, the characters convincing and interesting, but buying the backdrop is hard work. Unlike Mieville's Bas-Lag novels or most of Un Lun Dun, this book is set firmly in the real world with the addition of these two cities at the eastern edge of Europe, and neither the world nor humanity at large operate in the way that Mieville needs them to for the conceit to work. If this was Bas-Lag or another fantasy world, then fair enough, but it's a world with iPods and Google and Chuck Palahniuck novels instead. Revelations at the end of the book show that Mieville is aware of the problem, but paradoxically those same revelations also make the conceit even harder to swallow. The irony is that Mieville, for all his New Weird credentials eschewing traditional genre conventions, is nevertheless normally remarkably thorough and cohesive in constructing his novels and his 'weirdness' makes sense, if often in a very oblique or surreal fashion. Here things don't quite add up in the same way.


If you can push that to one side and accept the book as is, it's another great novel for Mieville. It's a very solid murder mystery, intelligently written with a solid resolution. The central characters, not just Borlu but the people around him and the people he is investigating, are all well-drawn with convincing motivations and rationales. It's imaginative, but also a little grim. That occasional sense of playful humour that even Perdido Street Station possessed is absent, and whilst the central idea is great elsewhere Mieville's imagination is kept firmly in check.

The City and The City (****) is an impressive novel built around a concept which is not handled as well as it could have been if it was in Bas-Lag or another secondary world. But the prose is peerless, the characters are well-defined and the mystery intriguing, and it'll probably still be one of the highlights of the year come the end-of-year discussions. The novel is published on 15 May in the UK by Macmillan and on 26 May in the USA by Del Rey. Del Rey have a video of the author discussing the book here.

Some more forthcoming cover art.

The cover of the forthcoming Subterranean Press version of The City and The City by China Mieville:


And the UK cover for the next Discworld novel by Sir Terry Pratchett.


Bet you they stick the Librarian in goal. And who convinced the Patrician to be the umpire?