Gormenghast
Gormenghast is an ancient city-state which primarily consists of a rambling and crumbling castle. The narrative, based on the first two of the three Gormenghast novels by Mervyn Peake, begins with the birth of a son, Titus, to the 76th Earl, Sepulchrave Groan, and Countess Gertrude. This mismatched pair (he'd prefer the melancholy privacy of his library; she'd prefer the company of her menagerie of cats and birds) also have a teenaged daughter, Fuchsia, who resents her new brother but comes to love him dearly. Simultaneously, a young kitchen apprentice, Steerpike, takes advantage of an altercation between head cook Swelter and the Earl's manservant, Mr. Flay, and escapes from the kitchens. Gormenghast is rigidly feudal in structure, but Steerpike has ambitions. He befriends the imaginative, yearning Fuchsia, and through her becomes apprenticed to the castle physician, Dr. Prunesquallor, who lives with his man-hunting sister Irma. This position allows Steerpike to work his way into the favour of the Earl's discontented twin sisters, Cora and Clarice, who feel displaced by Gertrude. The Earl's library mysteriously burns during a family gathering there, and subsequently the Earl goes fatally mad, and Steerpike gains a position with the castle's Master of Ritual. As Titus grows into childhood then adolescence, he chafes at the restrictions of Gormenghast's ritual-bound way of life and seeks ways of escape. He grows to resent and despise the ever-more ambitious Steerpike, who is gradually pursuing Titus's beloved sister Fuchsia. When Steerpike becomes Master of Ritual himself (although he's scarred for life in the fire that kills his predecessor), Titus decides he's had enough. But significant acts of treachery, which he discovers with the help of faithful Mr. Flay and the doctor (whose sister meanwhile has snagged the Gormenghast schoolmaster), force Titus's hand, and Steerpike must run, and fight, for his life, over the rooftops of a Gormenghast flooded by torrential rains.
- 2000-2000
- 1 season
- BBC Video
- Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Suspense
Gormenghast is an ancient city-state which primarily consists of a rambling and crumbling castle. The narrative, based on the first two of the three Gormenghast novels by Mervyn Peake, begins with the birth of a son, Titus, to the 76th Earl, Sepulchrave Groan, and Countess Gertrude. This mismatched pair (he'd prefer the melancholy privacy of his library; she'd prefer the company of her menagerie of cats and birds) also have a teenaged daughter, Fuchsia, who resents her new brother but comes to love him dearly. Simultaneously, a young kitchen apprentice, Steerpike, takes advantage of an altercation between head cook Swelter and the Earl's manservant, Mr. Flay, and escapes from the kitchens. Gormenghast is rigidly feudal in structure, but Steerpike has ambitions. He befriends the imaginative, yearning Fuchsia, and through her becomes apprenticed to the castle physician, Dr. Prunesquallor, who lives with his man-hunting sister Irma. This position allows Steerpike to work his way into the favour of the Earl's discontented twin sisters, Cora and Clarice, who feel displaced by Gertrude. The Earl's library mysteriously burns during a family gathering there, and subsequently the Earl goes fatally mad, and Steerpike gains a position with the castle's Master of Ritual. As Titus grows into childhood then adolescence, he chafes at the restrictions of Gormenghast's ritual-bound way of life and seeks ways of escape. He grows to resent and despise the ever-more ambitious Steerpike, who is gradually pursuing Titus's beloved sister Fuchsia. When Steerpike becomes Master of Ritual himself (although he's scarred for life in the fire that kills his predecessor), Titus decides he's had enough. But significant acts of treachery, which he discovers with the help of faithful Mr. Flay and the doctor (whose sister meanwhile has snagged the Gormenghast schoolmaster), force Titus's hand, and Steerpike must run, and fight, for his life, over the rooftops of a Gormenghast flooded by torrential rains.
Season 1 Episode Guide
4 Episodes 2000
Episode 1
Episode #1.1
61 mins
Newborn Titus Groan is destined to rule Gormenghast, a kingdom based on complicated and unbreakable traditions. Meanwhile an ambitious kitchen slave schemes to escape his destiny and overthrow the old order.
Episode 2
Episode #1.2
60 mins
The beginning derails the conclusion of the events surrounding the fire in the Library. This events mainly focus on the events in the second half of Titus Groan, including Sepulchrave's descent into madness and the subsequent death of the Earl and Swelter, Keda's departure and the birth of The Thing, and the banishment of Flay. It ends with the ceremony in which Titus is invested as Earl.
Episode 3
Episode #1.3
61 mins
The plot picks up the story 11 years after the events of the previous episode and mainly covers the events from the early part of Gormenghast. Titus, now aged 12, is a schoolboy. The episode includes events such as Irma Prunesquallor's party and her romance with Professor Bellgrove, the murder of Nannie Slagg by Steerpike, and the incarceration of Clarice and Cora. Titus begins to rebel and makes his first journey away from the castle, where he meets Flay and sees The Thing.
Episode 4
Episode #1.4
61 mins
The finale covers the remaining events of Gormenghast, in which Titus - now aged 17 - along with Flay and the Doctor, discover Steerpike's misdeeds. Events here include Steerpike's murder of Barquentine, the discovery of the twins' corpses, Fuchsia's depression, the flood, the search for Steerpike and Titus' wish to leave Gormenghast.