10 Amazing TV Shows You've Probably Never Heard Of
7. Neverwhere (1996)
Developed out of a conversation between comedian/producer Lenny Henry and writer/goth icon Neil Gaiman in the mid-nineties, Neverwhere traced the occult history and fabled underculture of London via the lense of an urban fantasy chase thriller.
The series’ protagonist is Richard, a young man who rescues a wounded young homeless woman named Door, and finds himself stuck with her, hunted by the same assassins who murdered her family. He and Door must travel across London Below, the secret world beneath and between the London Above that you and I know, to find help and answers.
Running six episodes on BBC television in autumn 1996, Neverwhere was distinct in that it was lit and shot for film but on video, the idea being that it would be converted in post-production. That never took place, and left us with a show that looked cheap and cheerful, like old school Doctor Who.
That made a difference twenty years ago. Today, it’s part of the show’s charm. Two decades of space have left Neverwhere firmly in the sci-fi/fantasy milieu of those old Doctor Who shows, of Sapphire & Steel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and Blake’s 7: all brilliantly written but incredibly low budget shows that relied upon an eager audience lapping up the sheer quality of the storytelling to suspend their disbelief.
The thing is, Neverwhere isn’t just some nerdy guilty pleasure - it rides the line between old school and new. There’s plenty of the glossy youth-oriented sheen of nu school Who in there as well, nine years or so before the BBC revived the franchise. That’s at least part of the reason why the show has kept such a good reputation amongst sci fi and fantasy obsessives over the years.
That, and the fascinating low fantasy setting, which sees London place names and landmarks turned uncanny, almost fey. There’s really a Court on the Underground presided over by an Earl, and an angel at Islington. The darkness at Night’s Bridge eats people, and the Black Friars are a sect of monks that guard an ancient secret…
Neverwhere is flawed, unsteady on its feet - but bursting with the kind of poetic flair and imaginative weirdness that’s since practically made Gaiman a household name. Since the initial broadcast, it’s been adapted into three different versions of the same novelisation, a comic series, a theatrical production and a radio play, with rumours every year of a feature film making it out of development hell.