The Secret Agent (Miniseries)

Joseph Conrad's well-received character study The Secret Agent reemerged in the public's consciousness after the terrorist attacks of 9-11. After coming across several references to it in the aftermath that followed I read it and appreciated Conrad's vision. It seems that an adaptation was made in 1996 by Christopher Hampton that was savaged by critic Robert Ebert, who called the novel "the least filmable novel he ever wrote." Given these facts, it was a bold decision for the BBC to attempt their own miniseries version of The Secret Agent (2016) written by Tony Marchant with Charles McDougall as director. The three part series stars Toby Jones as Verloc and Stephen Graham (who I can't help but see as anyone other than Al Capone-a character he played in Boardwalk Empire) as Chief Inspector Heat-Verloc's natural enemy. The sets are gorgeous, the acting strong, but the story breaks down in the final episodes and the series fails to reach the levels of characterization that drive the novel. All in all an interesting failure I suppose-I was compelled to see how it would be depicted on the screen..