ReganRebecca I have to admit, one of the only reasons I watched this is because I'm a huge fan of Romola Garai, but after the first episode I was completely hooked. It's well worth watching even if you don't care at all for any of the actors because everything about it is superb. The Crimson Petal and the White is based on a neo-Victorian novel by the stupendous writer Michel Faber. The wonderful thing about neo-Victorian works is that they can revisit the Victorian age without being constrained by all the things that the Victorians liked to keep under wraps, like frank sexual talk. This comes in handy in The Crimson Petal and the White which is focused a great deal on sex and sexuality. The main character is Sugar (Romola Garai, fantastic as always), a prostitute who has been working in the trade since she hit puberty (or maybe even before). Sugar has a deep distaste for men (she's working on a fantasy novel in which she tortures, maims, and kills her clients), but is well renowned because of her willingness to do anything (sexually speaking). She attracts the attention of William Rackham (Chris O'Dowd), a bumbling entrepreneur trapped in an unhappy marriage who is actually attracted to Sugar's mind as well as her body as she is self-educated and extremely literate and they both are well read. The more time Sugar and Rackham spend together the more they become obsessed with one another which leads to Sugar becoming more involved in Rackham's business and Rackham becoming concerned with keeping Sugar to himself. There is a lot more to the plot than that, but it's a wonderful tale. The aspects of Sugar and Rackham's personalities are set down early, and as the story unfolds we see these aspects play out. Sugar, who is tough minded and hard, is also incredibly smart, has the capacity to grow and change and also to love. Rackham is weak and selfish and these aspects are exposed as he faces difficult decision after difficult decision. The cast is excellent (special shoutout here to Chris O'Down whom I had previously only seen acting in comedies. He handles the darker material with ease putting to rest that lie about comedians not being able to handle anything but comedy). Beautifully shot and excellent costumes as you would expect from a BBC drama.

Sindre Kaspersen British screenwriter, producer and director Marc Munden's fifth television miniseries which was written by English screenwriter and playwright Lucinda Coxon, is an adaptation of a novel from 2002 by Dutch author Michel Faber and a UK-Canada co-production which was produced by producers David M. Thompson, Steve Lightfoot and Greg Dummett. It tells the story about an aspiring writer and inheritor of a family business called Rackham's Perfumery named William Rackham who lives in London with his mentally ill wife named Agnes whom he insists on keeping at home despite being advised by a doctor named Curlew to have her temporarily committed. After telling his father who expects him to manage the company about his future plans his allowance is taken away from him, but then William learns from two friends about a 19-year-old woman named Sugar who lives at a brothel and whom according to her reputation never disappoints.Precisely and engagingly directed by British filmmaker Marc Munden, this finely paced fictional tale which is narrated by the female protagonist, from multiple viewpoints and mostly from her's and the male main character's point of view, draws an intriguing portrayal of a somewhat reluctant heir who becomes so infatuated with an intelligent young prostitute that he makes arrangements with her Madame named Mrs. Castaway so that he can see her exclusively, his relationship with his spouse and the restrained relationship between his brother named Henry whom is becoming a clergyman and a woman who does work for the rescue society named Emmeline. While notable for it's naturalistic and atmospheric milieu depictions, sterling production design by production designer Grant Montgomery, cinematography by cinematographer Lol Crawley, costume design by costume designer Annie Symons, fine make-up by make-up artist Jacqueline Fowler and use of sound and light, this character-driven and narrative-driven story about social injustice, class distinctions, poverty and loss of innocence depicts two contrasting studies of character and contains a great instrumental score by composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer.This literary, romantic, conversational and at times humorous period drama which is set in the capital of England in the mid-19th century during the Victorian Era (1837-1901) and where a woman who in order to survive has spent most of her life pleasing men and who whilst searching for her identity and writing a novel about all the atrocities done by males that she has witnessed and experienced meets and makes a lingering impression on a married and resourceful man who gets her away from a lifestyle she has dreaded for years, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, subtle continuity, interrelated stories, colorful characters and involving acting performances by English actress Romola Garai, Irish actor Chris O'Dowd and Scottish actress Shirley Henderson. A heartrending, epic, historic and dramatic mystery.

Guy Ah, THE CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE, what a load of rot. The story concerns the brilliant Victorian prostitute Sugar (Romola Garai) who becomes mistress to (her sugar-daddy?) William Rackham (Chris O'Dowd).Romola Garai mugs her pretty little heart out but remains fundamentally unconvincing as a bewitching prostitute. Chris O'Dowd apparently doesn't know how to shave or how to do any accent but his native Irish. Lots of other people turn up but they are even more boring than the two leads. Special mention must be made of Mark Gatiss who continues to play the same part in every TV drama he's in.The plot is post-Victorian. Which is to say that it is purest Victorian melodrama but with extra shagging. Being post-Victorian also means that the male characters are all weirdos, wussbags or fools. The women in contrast are wise or mysterious or victimised. Even the prostitutes turn out to be remarkably well read.Much has been made of the seedy atmosphere, sets and costuming. I disagree. This underworld is treated in a voyeuristic manner- most notably in the first episode where a single shot takes in grotesquely fat and urinating prostitutes in the nuddy. The over-use of skinny kids, beaten prossies and lunatics makes it appear that there are no normal people in London and robs the series of any reality. Without the solid sense of reality it was impossible to take anything seriously. Give me Charlie Dickens anyday.

jeanwinchester I rarely write reviews. However...within two episodes, the BBC licence this year has been worth paying. And with gratitude. Quite fond of a Victorian drama, everything about this series is magnificent. The detail–underarm hair on women, the ugly charm of London in the nineteenth century, the wide open shots of the streets simply for a scene where one woman walks across the road–offering a tantalising view that the viewer could actually be there, the lighting, the makeup, the production, the acting, the direction... I did not recognise Gillian Anderson at all and had to refer to my paper. How far she has come. Chris O'Dowd I thought was an odd choice to begin with–but how he fitted in. Robert Sterne has to be congratulated. It is without a shadow of a doubt that the next two episodes will not disappoint. I must rush out and buy the book. First class.