When Philip Pullman published The Amber Spyglass in 2000, it was hailed as a landmark of children’s literature. The 500-page tome was the first novel for children to be longlisted for the Booker prize; a remarkable recognition of what the author had achieved with the His Dark Materials trilogy, which ended with that book. Now it arrives on screens as the third and final part of the BBC’s adaptation of the series, complete with metaphysical musings on life and death, heaven and hell.
As the story resumes, Will (Amir Wilson) is searching for Lyra (Dafne Keen), unaware that her tricksy mother, Marisa Coulter (Ruth Wilson), has her drugged and imprisoned. Mary Malone (Simone Kirby) is on the run through the dimensions, eventually rocking up in the land of the mulefa (strange wheeled beasts that the production designers clearly had great fun rendering). Meanwhile, James McAvoy’s Lord Asriel is going full megalomaniac in his fight to depose the Authority and its regent, Metatron. And, finally, after the deaths of John Parry and Lee Scoresby in the last series, it’s left to witch queen Serafina Pekkala (Ruta Gedmintas) and armoured bear Iorek (Joe Tandberg) to rep for the fine supporting characters.
