March 11, 2017 and on iPlayer

Fenton and the Curate encounter the Martians…

If the first part of this deviated from Wells’ original, this second part is pretty much made from whole cloth, with the first half devoted to Fenton and Curate David’s travels to London and their witnessing of the Martians’ fate for humanity, and then the aftermath of the invasion. It’s an excellent performance by Blake Ritson as Fenton; the writer becomes more and more unravelled, and then demonstrates that he is unable to change his attitudes despite everything that he’s been through – but it’s not Wells, and to call this a dramatization of Wells’ novel is wrong. The more accurate credit would probably be “based on characters and situations created by H.G.Wells”.

Melissa Murray has written an interesting study of the social mores of the late 19th century and how humanity might have adapted (or not, in some cases) to this invasion.  However she hammers home the message regarding colonialism in a final dinner-party scene that belabours the points in case the audience is too thick to understand the comparisons Wells was making.

Verdict: An interesting, and well-performed and -directed piece but it’s not Wells. 7/10

Paul Simpson