Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

[Doom Patrol]

I'd be interested to know what people make of this? To be honest I'm a little surprised at the bad press. Criticism of it mainly seems to revolve around the fact that it's not Harry Potter, that it's poorly acted or has an atrocious script. Suitably intrigued I finally got around to watching it last night and actually quite enjoyed it. Are people completely missing the point? Because it seemed like a different programme to the one they are talking about.

[Spiny Norman]

I'd be interested to know what people make of this? To be honest I'm a little surprised at the bad press. Criticism of it mainly seems to revolve around the fact that it's not Harry Potter, that it's poorly acted or has an atrocious script. Suitably intrigued I finally got around to watching it last night and actually quite enjoyed it. Are people completely missing the point? Because it seemed like a different programme to the one they are talking about.

The book's been adapted?? Somehow it never struck me as a book begging for a film/series. Must be because of the Harry Potter hype that almost anything involving magic gets filmed now. (Sometimes it's downright sad to see copycats at work, for example those Percy Jackson movies might have been better if they had NOT tried to copy Harry Potter so pathetically.)

[Mickey]

It's terrific. The first part was a little slow, but then in fairness so is the book (which is wonderful). I think perhaps it might just have wrongfooted the usual BBC period drama audience. Great job so far though. I've been greatly impressed. Even if I do keep grumbling that Strange is supposed to be a redhead.

[Beaker]

I just think its a bit....meh.

All the pieces are in the right place but it just falls flat in my opinion. All rather dull.

[Bob Richardson]

Really enjoying it. Beautifully shot and well acted. What's not to like?

[didi-5]

I think it is really good: I haven't read the book it is based on, though.

[spflog1]

I wasn't aware the series had been adapted from a book. So far, I've certainly been enjoying it. It's beautifully filmed.

[Richard A]

I've been catching up with this and it's... not bad, actually. I find that there's a certain sterile, over produced quality about most modern TV drama but this suffers less than most and it's helped by a bit of restraint on the music front too. There are good performances from actors that I'm not overly familiar with and I'm enjoying the concept and the fact that I really don't know where it's heading (having not read the book).

[Doom Patrol]

It's certainly perked up. It's probably what the reviewers would have liked in the first place. If they had had more than the attention span of a gnat.

[Bob Richardson]

Re-watching episode 1 I spotted dear old Vernon Dobtcheff as the father of Jonathan Strange. Don't know how I missed him first time round, but it's nice to see him still working at the age of 80.

[David Plaice]

Re-watching episode 1 I spotted dear old Vernon Dobtcheff as the father of Jonathan Strange. Don't know how I missed him first time round, but it's nice to see him still working at the age of 80.

He was in the audience for the recent BFI screening of Tender is the Night (1985), part of the Dennis Potter season. He appears in episode 2.