His Dark Materials: Season 2

Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, both citizens of Oxford but in different worlds, meet in an abandoned city alien to them both. They find respite from their individual travails, but their journey is not yet done. Destiny guides them to an encounter with the mysterious Subtle Knife, which has the power to change the fates of universes, but the Magisterium and the enigmatic Ms. Coulter are on their trail.

The first season of His Dark Materials was a reasonably solid adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel Northern Lights (retitled The Golden Compass in the US). It took advantage of its eight-hour running time to deliver a more in-depth, thoughtful and resonant version of the story than the perfunctory 2007 movie, although it may have also had a little bit too much time, with some issues with pacing. The season also suffered from a surprisingly subdued performance by Dafne Keen as the spirited Lyra (a problem of direction, not the actress, it should be emphasised) and a distinct lack of daemons in scenes which should have had lots of them in evidence.

Season 2 is an improvement on every single level. With seven episodes to adapt the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, the pacing is punchier and works better. Keen is more energetic and more in keeping with the Lyra from the books, and the show is positively awash with daemons when necessary. HBO came on board the project whilst the first season was filming, so it looks like their cash injection helped the second season overcome some of the budgetary constraints that were a little more evident in the first season (despite reports of this being one of the most expensive BBC dramas ever made). 

The second season is also more expansive. As well as the main story being more evenly split between Lyra and Will, there's also hefty storylines for Lee Scoresby, the witches, Ms. Coulter, the Magisterium leaders back on Lyra's world and dark matter scientist Dr. Mary Malone. The sense of scope and scale is matched by the production values, which convincingly depict multiple worlds and the action transpiring in them, and the superb set design for the city of Cittagàzze.

Some complaints may be unavoidable ones from the book: the abrupt jettisoning of much of Season 1's supporting cast feels a little jarring (especially the near-total absence of Asriel), and Pullman's intellectual approach and thematic ideas sometimes makes this a story more told from the head than the heart. But the escalating tension and increasing ruthless streak (especially from Ms. Coulter) also make the season more tense and unpredictable, at least to those who have not read the books.

The second season of His Dark Materials (****½) improves over the prior outing on almost level, being more epic, better-written and more impressive in scale and scope. It is available to watch via the BBC iPlayer in the UK and HBO in the United States.

A third season, depicting the final book in the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass, is in the planning stages but has not yet been greenlit.

BBC and New Line (and HBO?) to adapt HIS DARK MATERIALS for television

The BBC has confirmed that it will be developing a TV series based on His Dark Materials, the bestselling children's novel trilogy by Philip Pullman. The books were previously adapted for a film, The Golden Compass (2007), but this was not successful enough to warrant sequels.

The novels in the series consist of Northern Lights (1995, retitled The Golden Compass in the USA), The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000). The books have sold just under 20 million copies and form arguably the most critically-acclaimed YA fantasy series of recent times. The books tell the story of Lyra Belacqua, a 12-year-old girl who grows up in an alternate-universe version of Oxford. As the story continues Lyra encounters sentient, armoured polar bears, travels between several parallel universes and becomes embroiled in an epic battle for the fate of creation.

His Dark Materials has been acclaimed for making a readable and entertaining story out of very weighty topics, touching on original sin, religion and faith. The trilogy is effectively an inversion of Milton's Paradise Lost, but celebrating the things that Milton criticised in that novel. It was also partially inspired by Pullman's dislike of the heavy Christian allegory in The Chronicles of Narnia, particularly the nihilistic ending to the series. The trilogy has been acclaimed for its narrative weight, but has proven controversial in Christian circles for taking a critical - or at least non-laudatory - viewpoint on Christianity specifically and religion in general. An organised Christian campaign to boycott the film has been partially blamed for its lacklustre box office performance in the United States.

The new adaptation is planned to take the form of five eight-episode seasons from Bad Wolf Productions, headed by former BBC executive Jane Tranter (credited with taking the formal decision to return Doctor Who to television in 2003) and ex-Doctor Who producer Julie Gardner, working in conjunction with New Line Television, the first TV venture from the film production company responsible for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Golden Compass movie. Bad Wolf Productions has also announced an American rights partnership with HBO, suggesting that HBO may be contributing to the budget of the projects Bad Wolf are developing. This alleviates the concerns that the project may not get the money it deserves.

This is a hugely ambitious project and the notion of the BBC, New Line and possibly HBO joining forces to bring it to the screen is very exciting.