Critic Reviews

There is time and space to do them justice and the first episode, in all its steampunkish glory, gave every sign that the potential is to be realised.

His Dark Materials is worth the trip. This is a beautiful, brooding vision of Pullman’s universe, which retains the mix of childish wonder and darkness that make his books so beguiling to young adults.

It has been streamlined by screenwriter Jack Thorne and some characters and plot elements from the book have been ditched but it remains a thrilling, immersive TV treat that looks stunning and still has the hard-hitting emotional heft of the book. It is a credit to all involved, both on and off-screen.

In short, this is the adaptation fans have been waiting two decades to see.

His Dark Materials finally feels as though it has found its groove in its second season. The series feels more lush, propulsive, and epic than it ever has before, with a tightly paced plot and characters we can actually care about.

Wilson is riveting as the mysterious Mrs. Coulter. ... Keen easily conveys [Lyra's] cocksure spirit and fragile innocence; she is a rare child actor who is fully believable as a child. A caveat: This review is based on the first three episodes only (out of eight), so it’s impossible to say whether HDM will fill fulfill its early promise. (Either way, the show has a two-season order.) For now, though, HBO’s new fantasy saga feels like a page-turner.

Season 3 is thought-provoking, devastating at moments, and completely emotional. The final episodes turned me into a sobbing mess, just as the books did, and reminded me just why I loved the story so much.

Changes should alarm only nitpickers, and additions, mostly in the spirit of the text, are to the good — fleshing out characters and character relationships, converting description to action, and making a workable motion picture out of words on a page.

The plot of His Dark Materials is a fusion of ripping adventure yarn and coming-of-age story; neglecting the latter in favor of the former, on the misapprehension that action pleases audiences more than character, is a mistake this production does not make. The expanse of eight episodes makes it possible to do justice to both sweeping quests and intimate conversations.

Jack Thorne, one of my favourite TV writers (The Fades, currently on BBC iPlayer, is worth your time), revels in punching up Coulter as a combination of Iago and Lady Macbeth with a hint, at her most pantomimic, of Cruella de Vil. In Thorne’s hands, you never know what she might do next.