The Ruby in the Smoke

Former Dr. Who companion and current Dr. Who in a lame, scattered 'mystery'. This one plays like a mystery novel in which pages have been cut out and the story jumps backward and forward all over the place with huge gaping holes in the plot. Poorly written with even worse 'direction'. In fact about the only thing to redeem this is the performance of Julie Walters, who makes a fabulous villain. But then this is a part she has done before in other films, so there is nothing new here. As for Piper and Smith, to say they give totally uninteresting performance would be being too kind. One can easily see why this disappeared after 2 episodes. There is very little to recommend it other than some nice costumes.

"Ruby in the Smoke" really has lots of potential. It certainly has set the stage for future episodes. It's a Victorian suspense story (with excellent settings and scenery)based upon the original novel. PBS does its usual good job of making this one available. Alas, it has some serious shortcomings, especially for American audiences. Understanding the fast-paced "English" dialect was quite difficult, thus taking away from not only the plot and story line, but adding some confusion as well. Perhaps it's just fine for our friends in England, but the fact that I could not understand all the dialog was a disappointment. In addition. the characters just didn't come across as fully developed; Sally oftentimes was the weepy whiny Victorian woman and at other times, leaping into the 20th century with some of her "liberations." Greater interaction between the "good" characters would enhance the story (and hold viewers' interest more). Mrs. Holland comes across truly as the wicked woman she is and is perhaps the most convincing of the entire cast. Still, there are possibilities here and I, for one, am hoping to see this story developed into a more convincing series.

Sally, as her father called her when he was alive, receives a mysterious note that throws suspicion on her father's accidental death. Pursuing this information, she soon will find herself discovering her past and unraveling a dream she had since childhood. In this pursuit, she makes many new friends and some deadly enemies. First encounter is Mr. Higgs; soon to become dead as mutton.

Matt Smith who plays Jim Taylor Narrates much of the movie.

Based on a novel by Bill Pullman (author of "The Golden Compass") you can see the Pullman pattern in the story. Pullman always has strong-willed women. Adrian Hodges wrote the screenplay and kept the essentials while making it more palatable as a film. Many people watched the BBC production because Sally (Veronica Lockhart) is well played by Billie Piper of "Dr. Who" fame. Yet all of the other actors most pretty well known in their rights helped make this an excellent presentation; another well-known actor Julie Walters who played Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter film series makes a spooky antagonist as the amoral Mrs. Holland.

Strang what you remember and forget so I had to watch it again nearly two decades later.

The Ruby in the smoke is one of those dramas I dig out regularly to watch, it looks as fresh and new as the day it went out, it has aged very well.

The story is brilliant, and it translates very well from text to screen, if you haven't read the book, I urge you too, it's a terrific read.

It's such a shame that more of the Sally Lockhart mysteries weren't made, this and the follow up are very enjoyable.

The acting, Piper is wonderful I thought, she comes across as very charismatic, the character is believable. It's hard however not to comment on the sheer majesty of Julie Walters, she is off the scale here, her acting is incredible, she goes from amusing to evil in a flash, what a great.

It's well worth seeing, 8/10.

Sally Lockharts family is one with many secrets ,sally has to deal with an aunt who doesn't support her , a woman who she doesn't know mrs Holland ( Julie Walter's) wanting to kill her and murder her , but there is more to it than meets the eye . Sally discovers her fathers death was not accidental it was on purpose and he knew too much , the Ruby has caused many deaths , Jim taylor ( Matt smith) a porter became an ally to sally and he likes the idea of rescue , he also loves solving mysteries . But he began the story about sally joining her aunt unaware of the next few days what they would bring to her at the end sally visits her childhood home to make the past confess the last of its secrets.