Sunday 20 August 2017


Alan Rickman was to have played the Scotland Yard detective in The Limehouse Golem who's 'not the marrying kind' and it's hard not to feel a pang that we'll never see that performance - or hear that glorious voice against the backdrop of penny-dreadful Victorian London. But, having said that, Bill Nighy is terrific, too. If you've a strong stomach for dismembered corpses (I once met a team of very charming young men who made them horribly realistically for films and TV) this is a rollicking Victorian murder mystery with lots of twists and turns - though I'm not sure that the body-count made it the best choice on a Sunday morning when I'd binge-watched The State the night before.
I loved all the period detail - the gas-lit Limehouse gloom, the glow of the music hall (was it Wilton's?), the British Museum Reading Room - but my attention was flagging just a bit by the end; not sure whether that was a surfeit of twists and turns or my having dashed out of the house without my second cup of strong coffee.

4 comments:

Gina said...

I'm now remembering Alan Rickman's wonderful voice. I somehow can't imagine Bill Nighy having the same edge, good though he is.

Mary said...

You're right, Gina. He's very good but hasn't got that extra something. It's amazing how AR's voice stays in your mind, isn't it?

Lucille said...

I love Bill Nighy but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get past the dismembered corpses to see him. Perhaps a hat to pull over my eyes at critical moments.

Mary said...

A hat would help, Lucille! I don't mind when it's period drama; The State was bit too close to reality.