Home to the ancient family of Lord Groan (Ian Richardson), the majestic Castle of Gormenghast has gone unchanged for thousands of years. However, this long-running dynasty is threatened by the charming yet villainous kitchen boy, Steerpike (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers). With the birth of a new Groan heir, Steerpike begins his ruthless ascent to power. This dark fantasy series from the BBC also features Stephen Fry, Christopher Lee, Fiona Shaw, and many more.

Review

The BBC's lavish, glowingly designed adaptation of Mervyn Peake's eccentrically brilliant novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast is a triumph of casting. Ian Richardson's Lear-like depiction of the mad earl of a remote, vast, ritual-obsessed building is matched by the brutal pragmatism of Celia Imrie as his wife, the synchronized madness of Zoë Wanamaker and Lynsey Baxter as his twin sisters, and the duplicitous charm of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Steerpike, the kitchen-boy determined to take over no matter how many deaths it costs. John Sessions is surprisingly touching as Prunesquallor, the family doctor who realizes almost too late what Steerpike intends.
It is always tricky to film a book dear to the hearts of its admirers. Wilson and his design team achieve a look rather more pre-Raphaelite than Peake's own illustrations--shabby velvets, garish sunlight, and dank, stone passages. The score by Richard Rodney Bennett is full of attractive surprises--fanfares and waltzes and apotheoses--and John Tavener's choral additions are plausibly parts of the immemorial ritual of Gormenghast. --Roz Kaveney

Special Features:

• The Making of Gormenghast
• Character Profiles
• Design Gallery