I recently read Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere for the first time – in particular the ‘author’s preferred version’. It seems that since the BBC TV series was made, there have been a couple of iterations of the text. Inevitably some things work better in prose than a BBC-funded drama series, although my (hazy) memory does recall Neverwhere being rather good at the time.
The book is well-written, and the plot follows the TV series closely, but with some additional detail and insights into the characters – I haven’t read many other adaptions from screen to prose, but it seems to work well. It’s not my favourite Neil Gaiman work, compared to Sandman or Anansi Boys, but well worth reading and pretty imaginative. My only remaining problem is whether to re-watch the TV series; I assume it will have aged to a degree, and also seem rather terse and cut-down compared to the novel I just read. Hmmm.
