Of course it would have been impossible to successfully bring Kerry Greenwood's amazing Phryne Fisher to the small screen and this effort, although lovely to look at falls short on several fronts.
Essie Davis (who is maybe a tad too old for the part)looks wonderful in the lead role, helped by the excellent sets and the fabulous clothing. These are spot on for the period - I've no complaints on that front. The casting of the other characters was not as successful, particularly that of Ashleigh Cummings who is way too pretty and way too young to be a convincing Dot, Miss Fisher's maid and companion.
So far only two episodes have been aired and it is disappointing to see the way the plots of the original stories have been changed around - in several cases unnecessarily. It was obvious that some changes must be made to fit a complete novel into a on hour TV show, but the original concept could have been left alone quite easily, without completely changing the outcome of the story. It appears that Kerry Greenwood had little if anything to do with the dramatisation of her stories - I wonder what her feelings are about the outcome.
The greatest disappointment is that the overlying humour of all the Phryne Fisher stories has been lost in this series so far. These unique and light hearted novels have been turned into just another period murder mystery series. I hope the further episodes are as true to the stories as they are to the clothes and buildings of the period.
Essie Davis (who is maybe a tad too old for the part)looks wonderful in the lead role, helped by the excellent sets and the fabulous clothing. These are spot on for the period - I've no complaints on that front. The casting of the other characters was not as successful, particularly that of Ashleigh Cummings who is way too pretty and way too young to be a convincing Dot, Miss Fisher's maid and companion.
So far only two episodes have been aired and it is disappointing to see the way the plots of the original stories have been changed around - in several cases unnecessarily. It was obvious that some changes must be made to fit a complete novel into a on hour TV show, but the original concept could have been left alone quite easily, without completely changing the outcome of the story. It appears that Kerry Greenwood had little if anything to do with the dramatisation of her stories - I wonder what her feelings are about the outcome.
The greatest disappointment is that the overlying humour of all the Phryne Fisher stories has been lost in this series so far. These unique and light hearted novels have been turned into just another period murder mystery series. I hope the further episodes are as true to the stories as they are to the clothes and buildings of the period.