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Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" has been released as a movie, a novel and is currently being released as a comics series by Vertigo. This mini-series, released as a joint venture between A&E and the BBC, is the a brilliant weaving of real-world and fantasy in two alternative Londons. The real London--or London above--is where the story begins when the extraordinarily normal Richard Mayhew comes to the rescue of a bleeding woman on the street. Urged by his domineering fiancee to leave her to the police, he decides the only decent thing to do is bring the girl back to his flat and see to her injuries. Richard's problems begin with this fateful step. The injured girl is, in reality, the Lady Door, the young scion of a noble family from the fantastic London Below, the alternate London found below the city's sewers. After bidding Door a troubling farewell, Richard has a number of encounters that exhibit the unforeseen consequence of contact with the Lady Door--that his life as he knew it has been erased. The tale then follows Richard into London Below as he journeys with a number of eclectic figures including an angel, a marquis and two ancient and mythical hitmen. The series is truly entertaining and imaginative. For those not used to the characteristic low-budget stylings of BBC mini-series, the quality of the video may be a stumbling point. For those able to see beyond this, a truly intrepid fantasy is in store.Read full review
I think a lot of people here have a misconception that this BBC miniseries was based on the book -- in fact, it was the opposite -- Neil Gaiman wrote the book AFTER the screenplay and showing of this on British tv...in his own interviews he states "he wanted to write a book that incorporated all the things he envisioned that kept getting cut out of the screenplay". That being said - this is a solid 1996 SciFi mini series, long before sci fi type miniseries came in vogue -- the complete 6-episode series runs about 3 hours. Gary Bakewell plays a buffudled Richard Mayhew during his adventures in London Below. The production looks like it cost about 38 dollars -- almost all location shots, and very few special effects, so most of the budget went toward lighting, cameras, and location-site licenses. THe entire cast is B-quality with not stars. . The "monster" sequence in the 6th episode is utterly rediculous. And yet the entire thing holds together quite amusingly.Read full review
Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors and Neverwhere is my favorite book that he has written. I wan't expecting much about this mini-series adaptation, but I was pleasantly surprised. The acting wasn't terrible, and every major detail of the book was made clear during the limited amount of time that was given. The scenery and special effects were shoddily done, but not much can be expected for when this was made. Overall, I enjoyed this, but I do wish that a production company with a bigger budget could pick up the rights for this and make it into an actual onscreen blockbuster type movie.
I thought this movie would be labrinth-like and was totally disappointed in the lousy acting and terrible videography. Its like a cheesy homemade mystery. However it has an interesting storyline, two different worlds in London...one above surface and normal, and one below surface and full of ghastly bad guys who eat rats on camera as well as eating other "down-under" folks. There IS some good humor in it but not often enough. I admit I have only forced my way thru disc one, but so far, nevermore. If they had left off the gory and focussed more on better acting/better lines maybe they could have pulled off the hand held feeling of the filming. I tend to love British television and was sorely disappointed.
Neverwhere is a mini series made for BBC about a place called "London Below", a dangerous world of mysterious creatures existing beneath London in which a unsuspecting guy get's entangled. The feel of the whole thing reminds me a little of a wild mix between Lemony Snicket cross bread with Hellboy with and a touch of The Matrix. I have read a bunch of reviews of people getting their panties in a bunch over cheap special effects, the video quality, the acting and so forth. Well I simply loved the show and here is why: It is beautifully written and very creatively executed. I absolutely love the characters and the look of the production (ok, I'm a sucker for abandoned subway stations and the like...) I mean this is a story that does not need to be realistic and I think the special effects and the overall look do it absolutely justice while still leaving some things to imagination. I also love that it was shot in weird real locations in London. Could they have benefited from more/better special effects or a bigger budget? Maybe, maybe not, I think it's awesome for what it's meant to be, they did great with what they had and I felt that it was a production of people who really enjoyed what they were doing. I enjoyed watching it and hope you do too!Read full review
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