Director
- Andy Wilson
Starring
- Jonathan Rhys Meyers
- Celia Imrie
- Ian Richardson
- Neve McIntosh
- Christopher Lee
Characters
- Titus Groan
- Lord Sepulchrave Groan
- Countess Gertrude Groan
- Fuchsia Groan
- Cora and Clarice Groan
- Steerpike
- Mr. Flay
- Dr. Alfred Prunesquallor
- Irma Prunesquallor
- Abiatha Swelter
- Nannie Slagg
- Sourdust
- Barquentine
- Bellgrove
- Keda
- The Thing
Brief Summary
Gormenghast is a four-episode television serial based on the Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake. It was produced and broadcast by the BBC.
First broadcast in early 2000, this BBC serial of the celebrated modernist fantasy by Mervyn Peake was designed for an early evening time-slot in much the same vein as the earlier adaptations of The Chronicles of Narnia. Although Peake, a talented and visionary artist, has left numerous drawings concerning his work, the creators preferred a new approach that injected a good deal more colour and humour into what is, on the page, a very dark and exhausted world; a place of shadows, dust, rust and nettles.
The BBC conception was based on the idea that Peake's early life in China had influenced the creation of Gormenghast; thus, the castle in the series resembles the Forbidden City of Peking as well as the Holy City of Lhasa in Tibet. This idea has basic validity, particularly as regards the 'bright carvings' of the wood-working outer dwellers, but purists might consider the entire production rather lighter than the books, which author Anthony Burgess regarded as a great classic of the Twentieth century and an allegory of the two World Wars.
See Also
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