Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1509 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-04-23
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 173 minutes

DVD Description
Under the streets of London is a strange world inhabited by monsters and saints, muderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. Richard, a quiet London businessman, is pitchforked into this world when he rescues a young girl he finds bleeding on a pavement. Neverwhere is a dark and thrilling mixture of metaphor, history, humour and high adventure. Starring Laura Fraser (The Flying Scotsman), Hywel Bennett (Loot, Eastenders), Gary Bakewell (Man and Boy).

Synopsis
Get lost under the London streets with this six-part fantasy adventure written for television by the prolific fantasy author Neil Gaiman. Richard Mayhew is a businessman whose whole life is about to change when he comes across a girl by the name of Door...

Customer Reviews

Urban fantasy
I have to admit that I missed Neverwhere when it was on telly. The opening with the talking head of Gary Bakewell as Richard Mayhew and the performance of the actress who plays Jessica, his girlfriend, felt a bit painful to watch. I did pick up the novel though and enjoyed that thoroughly. And yes, i've read Good Omens and Sandman since then, although I'm not sold on Sandman being the masterpiece everyone says it is, so I thought I'd give the TV show another go.

And it's not half bad. Yes, Bakewell is still only half-baked as the viewpoint character but he doesn't have much to do but act outraged and confused (except that he doesn't do confused much and the outraged side wears a bit thin). When he does reach a bit further into the acting box he's okay. And the girlfriend is still cardboard awful but the rest of the actors are great. Lovely lovely Laura Fraser plays the nicely grounded Door, Joseph Patterson is faboo as the Marquis and Peter Capaldi is a nicely serene Angel Islington.

As Neil Gaiman comments in an interview extra on the DVD, it is by turns funny, adventurous, sad (although Gaiman also mentions scary, which I don't think it ever manages) and shocking at points, even to someone who knew the story going in. That said, it's not particularly deep and not really layered but it's still a good adventure/fantasy/horror story.

The plot? Richard Mayhew helps an injured girl on the street. She is Door, from a contemporaneous fantastic version of London called London Below a world built on puns on London placenames, so that Earl's Court is the travelling court of an Earl, there really is an Angel called Islington, etc. Door's family has been murdered by Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar who work for a mysterious employer and they are hunting for Door. Richard finds he can no longer be seen by people in London Above (or our world) and has to follow Door to get answers.

The design and effects are pretty good. The design makes me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although obviously this predates that (or was in production at the same time). The director is clever enough to pull away when the budget will not allow the appropriate effect so that you fill in a lot in your head, but given that most of us grew up on budget British TV you should be used to that. It is intriguing to think what they might be able to do with computers today, but it's still quite good. Unfortunately the lighting is the hard light of British TV in the old days, too, so the atmosphere is never quite as claustrophobic as you'd hope.

And yet, despite the faults it's still rather good and you can see that they were hoping to continue to other series with some loose ends at the end of the story and it's rather sad they weren't able to, because I think it would have been rather cool. So if you are a fan of telefantasy or Neil Gaiman give it a shot, it's a lovely piece of work.

A bit flat, but entertaining nonetheless
It was fun to watch, though after having read the book, it wasn't much of a surprise. I didn't find it dark enough - there was so much light in London below - somehow I had imagined it a lot darker and wetter. I thought the acting was quite good, and the characters were generally well cast. I thought Door could have been a bit more interesting as a character - she certainly seemed that way from the book.

Neily Perfect
As a preface to this review I would like to advise that the title is a play on words, not poor spelling.

Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew - a bored businessman who stumbles across an injured girl called Door. Their meeting quickly plunges Richard into the dark and gothic world of London Below, a world both wonderful and terrifying in equal measure.

I read the novelisation before I watched the series (though I vaguely recall it being broadcast before I'd ever heard of Gaiman). Because of this I was a tad worried that the series wouldn't live up to the book (though I am aware that the series proceeded the book). I was pleasantly surprised.

Yes, the acting is a little RSC. Yes, it looks a wee bit dated. However, overall it is a very well executed piece and the story itself is superb (unsurprising having come from the mind of a genius like Gaiman).

Recommneded for fans of Neil Gaiman and superior storytelling alike.