Photograph: Matt Squire/BBC/JSMN Ltd/Matt Squire ‘Forgive me Mrs Bullworth, but even the greatest magician that ever lived could not kill the same person three different ways’ – Strange Mirror, mirror … Jonathan Strange (Bertie Carvel). Strange’s second encounter, in which he summoned Thistledown, but once more could not see him – and briefly lost the King to the bleak roads to the north – showed that madness and the realm of Faerie make for uniquely suitable bedfellows. It was a bit like a Magnum album cover from the mid-1980s. Uskglass, meanwhile, looked distinctly metal with his lank black hair and big sword. It was an excellently creepy picture, the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair in one corner hiding in a bush like a guilty dogger and the freaky Maurice Sendak-esque wild things behind him. Engravings in books … I never saw a painting before’ – Strangeįollowing the magicians’ initially fruitless meeting with mad King George, upon which Norrell became “Norrelle”, by his own pronunciation, Strange happened upon the painting of John Uskglass, the Raven King himself.

After the intercepting of private letters from last week, and Norrell’s continued acceptance of the slimy Lascelles, one feels Childermass may be considering his position at Hanover Square. Let’s hope Childermass has second thoughts next time he jumps in front of a pistol for his employer, the ungrateful sod. Photograph: Matt Squire/BBC/JSMN Ltd/Matt Squire – NorrellĬhildermass (Enzo Cilenti) might consider his position at Hanover Square. I’ve been in the most desperate need of you, but you’ve been useless. OK, there are quite a few, so it’s perhaps understandable that Norrell was feeling a bit embattled, but still, there was no excuse for his bedside manner. And do you count the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair? He’s sometimes in England. Actually, maybe five, if you count Segundus. It looks like there are now three magicians in England four, if you count Vinculus. But first, to business … ‘Why were you performing Belasis’s Scopus?’ – NorrellĪfter the tumult of the attempted assassination of Norrell last week, there was one pressing matter that appeared to have stuck with Gilbert while his loyal (too loyal, if you ask me) manservant Childermass lay recovering from a potentially mortal wound. Betrayal was rife, magical factions becoming more and more apparent following Strange’s experiences at war and Norrell’s cosseted life in London society.

It was perhaps the most plot-heavy episode so far, this week, and it was wonderfully rich from the off.

Dr norrell and mr strange book