BBC / HBO His Dark Materials - should you watch?

All images taken from IMDB

So I'm coming into this without any real knowledge of Philip Pullman's book series. I've heard it's good but I've not read it and I've not watched the film adaptation The Golden Compass either, though I'm aware of the issues people raised with that adaptation. So I was coming into this fairly blind and can't judge how accurate it is to the books.

Story

It almost seems redundant to talk about the story as it's based on a book and it's hard to really say much in that regard other than to say as an outsider it does end up somewhat confusing initially though by the 3rd episode you'll mostly be used to it and have learned the basics. It's also worth pointing out the first episode is quite slow going and mostly set up with things only starting to develop by episode 2 and actually getting going by episode 3. Also while I enjoyed it the series does feel like it leaves a lot in the air by the end meaning a number of answers won't be coming until the next series. The show certainly does paint an interesting picture of an alternative world as such.

The basic plot avoiding as many spoilers as I can is Lyra Belacqua, an orphaned girl, living in giant educational college and taken care of by the staff there wants to go off adventuring and exploring with her uncle Lord Asriel who is doing research far north. Lord Asriel however refuses to take her claiming it's dangerous. Lyra however thinks she has a chance to live her dream of exploring when Mrs  Coulter offers her as position as her assistant with Mrs Coulter being very familiar with exploring in the north and has her own research work up there.

Lyra comes off as a well written character who does face failure and hardship and isn't some all powerful character. She often relies on her wits and talking herself out of situations or into positions where she can wait until another character is able to rescue her.

Effects

The effects are passable to good for a TV show with each character having a Daemon companion creature all of which are edited in via CGI and while they don't look super realistic they look passable enough. The effects shots for the armoured bears actually feel far better done and more realistic. 

The effects however become quite high quality in terms of creating some of the sweeping vistas and environments of the show, really evoking a sense of scale when required or the isolation of a location at other times this really is where the shows effects shine.

Acting

The acting is really quite good across the board except for 1 performance that sometimes falls a little flat, however I won't name the person because in this case I don't feel it would be fair on them for certain reasons to do so.

Ruth Wilson (best known for being in Luther) puts on a great showing as Mrs Coulter portraying a quite complex character. James McAvoy (Split, The Xmen film reboots) gives a exceptional performance as Lord Asriel.

The best acting in the series comes from Dafne Keen (Logan) playing Lyra Belacqua, she is required to often carry scenes as the only person on screen. Dafne Keen's performance quality is such that even when in scenes with far more experience actors her performance is on par with them and doesn't falter. What makes this all the more impressive is she's only 14, I literally had to look her up on IMDB to find out who she was because her performance was impressive enough I wanted to highlight it and I initially suspected I'd find a 20 something woman who just happens to look young but no she's actually this good at only 14. If her performance here is any indication I suspect Dafne Keen's name will be among those of Hollywood's leading ladies in the future as she has such a talent for acting it would almost be criminal for the industry to let it go to waste. 

Should You Watch it?

As some-one who hasn't read the books I can say it's worth a watch. It's a bit slow going initially and takes a couple of episodes to get going. The effects are passable though the scenery is definitely worth watching for due to the great work on creating the locations and the show is carried by a number of very great performances that draw you into the world by bringing the material alive and giving emotional weight to scenes.