Gormenghast is Coming (to BBC America) | 1900 House on PBS© Hunter Peters
May 19, 2000
If you've recently so much as flipped by BBC America while channel surfing, then you've probably seen at least a bit of the promotional blitz
that's been launched in support of the eccentric dark fantasy mini-series Gormenghast.
In fact the heavy promotion's been going on for what seems like months now and
with good reason. BBC America believes Gormenghast has what it takes to be a
true television event. Think Twin Peaks in Camelot and your just getting along
the edge of this gothic fairy tale. If the series is only half as fascinating as
the adverts, then we're in for quite a show.
Gormenghast, even the name sounds odd and vaguely unsettling. Based on the
late Mervyn Peak's legendary Gormenghast Trilogy ( Titus Groan
(1943), Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959)) and featuring a
truly all star cast, this 4-part extravaganza strives to add substance to the
style shown in such recent television epics as Gulliver's Travels, Merlin and
The Tenth Kingdom. In choosing the Gormenghast trilogy, the BBC embarked on one
of its most lavish and ambitious efforts to date. The all-star cast I mentioned
is quite impressive in itself - Christopher Lee, Ian Richardson, Zoe Wannamaker,
Spike Milligan, John Sessions, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Warren Mitchell, Stephen
Fry and on and on.
My own encounter with Peak's masterpiece began in 7th grade when, after
polishing off J.R.R Tolkein's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy, I desperately
yearned for more of the same. Somewhere, the exact place is lost to the mists of
time, I read that there was another great epic fantasy even more powerful and
ambitious than Tolkein's great work. I'm sure I assumed that Gormenghast would
be full of more orcs and elves and wizards, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
Gormenghast was a different sort of fantasy altogether. A gothic fairly tale of
decay and corruption, a decadent dance among the ruins of a warped society. Good
stuff. It took me years to track down each volume of the trilogy as Mall
bookstores of the early 80's weren't exactly keen stockists of obscure (in
America at any rate) gothic fantasies, but each one was a revelation to be savored
and ruminated upon.
Normally, I would urge all those unfamiliar with the Gormenghast saga to rush
out, buy the books and read them in preparation for the mini-series, but seeing as
the premier is only a couple of weeks away, it would hardly do these great works
justice to be hurriedly devoured merely as appetizers for the televised version.
However, if you like the series, and I hope we all will, then I strongly recommend
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