A wildly atmospheric adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's gothic mystery novel Uncle Silas, this BBC adaptation really has to be seen to be disbelieved, says David Parkinson.
This has to be one of the wildest classic serials the BBC ever made. The positioning and movement of the camera, the hallucinogenic effects and the abrasive score have all been designed to disconcert the viewer as much as heiress Beatie Edney, who is cast by her father’s death into the bizarre, substance-fuelled world of his dissolute brother, Uncle Silas (Peter O’Toole).
A far cry from Charles Frank’s lowering 1947 adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel Uncle Silas, this series has atmosphere and grandiloquence more uppermost than coherence.
Yet it makes for utterly compelling viewing, with Jane Lapotaire biting chunks out of the Harlaxton Manor setting as the deranged French governess and horror icon Barbara Shelley coolly playing against type as the kindly cousin.
But everyone is upstaged by Peter O’Toole, who shifts gleefully from sinister benevolence to ranting wickedness as he strives to ease Edney out of her large inheritance, held in trust until she comes of age, to settle a lifetime’s debts. More Grand Guignol than Gothic, this has to be seen to be disbelieved.
Arguably the archetypal Gothic thriller, The Dark Angel is a sensual and stylish adaptation of Uncle Silas - Sheridan le Fanu’s influential Victorian literary masterpiece.
Starring Peter O’Toole in a wonderfully rich performance as the dangerous, scheming and perhaps quite mad Silas Ruthyn, this three-part drama is elegantly directed by Peter Hammond (Sherlock Holmes, The Avengers) and also features Beatie Edney as the unfortunate Maud, Jane Lapotaire as the grotesquely sinsiter Madame de la Rougierre, Tim Woodward as the brutal Dudley and Hammer Horror doyenne Barbara Shelley in her final dramatic television role. Sparkling with corrupted elegance, its dark, brooding atmosphere makes The Dark Angel the definitive TV adaptation of this literary classic.
When her father unexpectedly dies, young Maud Ruthyn becomes heiress to a large fortune that is held in trust for her until she comes of age. Romantically obsessed by a youthful, Byronic painting of her Uncle Silas she readily agrees to being placed in his care - ignoring warnings of his behaviour as a known rake, wastrel and opium fiend. Unfortunately for Maud things are not what they seem, and Silas's benevolent demeanour hides a web of deception and terror.
