To many, now of a certain age, the Paul Daniels Magic Set was the Holy Grail of Christmas and birthday gifts. You opened that garish box and were confronted with a mass of magic plastic – wands, cups, cards, balls to be palmed and pocketed – and the knowledge that you had the power to … >
A brilliant blooper from the filming of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell has appeared online. The epic seven-part fantasy drama concludes on BBC One at 9pm this Sunday. > Order the DVD on Amazon. > Order the Blu-ray on Amazon. Watch the clip, featuring Enzo Cilenti as Childermass… Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is released … >
Doctor Who writer Peter Harness (‘Kill the Moon’) has adapted Susanna Clarke’s bestselling novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell for BBC One. Set at the beginning of the 19th century, England no longer believes in practical magic, until the reclusive Mr Norrell vows to prove himself England’s greatest magician. > Order the DVD on Amazon. > … >
Venice! Venizia! The city that has a terrible pizza named after it has seen a lot of crazy things in its history; from sexy alien fish vampires trying to flood the world, to an ageing British secret agent piloting a high-speed hover-gondola through its waterways and plazas, causing local wildlife to do double-takes. But its … >
If you’re already under the spell of Sunday night’s resident magicians Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell then you need waste no more time reading this. If, on the other hand, you’ve not yet tuned in then there’s still time (via the magic of BBC iPlayer) to catch up with one of the strangest – indeed … >
‘Can a magician kill a man by magic?’ The question was asked on Jonathan on The Peninsula, back in Episode 3. His reply, ‘A magician might. But a gentleman never could.’ So we assumed him a gentleman. But in the knock-your-socks-off impressive tumult of the Battle of Waterloo that opens Episode 5, we see that … >
Given that Chapter 4 of BBC One’s fantasy period drama is titled ‘All the Mirrors of the World’, let’s take a moment to reflect on mirrors. That shiny plate on your bathroom wall has always been viewed as magical, either practically – it was mirrors that brought to life the famous 1862 illusion ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ … >
The magic continues in the third chapter of BBC One’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. In ‘The Education of a Magician’ tensions continue to tighten like a belt sucked agonisingly into the next notch along, those ever so polite animosities escalate, and a magician does indeed learn a thing or two of the consequences of … >
Doctor Who writer Peter Harness (‘Kill the Moon’) has adapted Susanna Clarke’s bestselling novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell for BBC One. Set at the beginning of the 19th century, England no longer believes in practical magic, until the reclusive Mr Norrell vows to prove himself England’s greatest magician. > Order the DVD on Amazon. > … >
Until Episode 1’s credits told me so, I hadn’t realised that BBC One’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was based on a book. I can’t really comment, therefore, on whether the book is essential to a full understanding of the bewildering and beguiling events unfolding on screen. For the same reason, I’m not yet sure … >