By Ben Wright (@iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review is spoiler-free.
Synopsis:
In London, the most talented teenage ghost hunters journey nightly into dangerous combat with deadly spirits. Among the many adult-staffed corporate agencies, one small startup is alone: Lockwood & Co., operated by two teenage boys and a psychically gifted girl who are a renegade trio free of financial motives, adult supervision and destined to unravel a mystery that will change history’s course.
The series is adapted from the first two books, The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull and they have managed to blend these two main stories seamlessly. There are plenty of familiar elements for fans of the books, but some new creative twists, with a few different aspects, ensure that even diehard fans of Lockwood & Co, will still have plenty of new experiences with this adaption. Taking a step back and looking at the story and writing in general, this was a really well-paced and well-written series that had a delightful mix of humour, drama and horror. The characters are fleshed out as much as they can be, for an eight-episode series, and by the final episode I felt extremely fulfilled in regard to both the story and overall character development. Like the books, the core demographic for this series is the young adult market, but it has many more adult themes and visuals, so this is very much a 12A-style show.
As for the cast, the main trio of Ruby Stokes (Lucy Carlyle), Cameron Chapman (Anthony Lockwood) and Ali Hadji-Heshmati (George Karim) are wonderfully cast and feel that their chemistry as a group and when paired off, worked really well. The changes they made with George in particular were great, and for me, they improved upon his character from the books in a few key areas. Ivanno Jeremiah (Inspector Barnes) and Louise Brealey (Pamela Joplin) were also very good in the supporting roles, both of whom excelled in very different ways with their respective characters. Hayley Konadu (Flo Bones) was another who I really enjoyed and if anything, just wanted a little bit more of. I also want to give special mentions to Nigel Planer (Sir John Fairfax), Luke Treadaway (The Golden Blade) and Ben Crompton (Julius Winkman) who were all just as enjoyable. As a whole, the entire cast was great, this is a very well-acted series.
From a production standpoint, Lockwood & Co is neither overly expensive nor done on the cheap. The locations, sets, props, costumes and visual effects all looked really good! With a bit more money, some of the elements could have been expanded upon and one event was missing from this adaption, but that would require a lot more money, so for what they did, I think they did really well.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Lockwood & Co and think it is a very respectful adaption from the books, while also very much being its own thing. It does, however, feel like one of those shows that Netflix will either cancel after one season or leave to linger in limbo like The Irregulars. Time will tell, but personally, I would love more!
Lockwood & Co jump from page to screen with tremendous success, resulting in an exciting and spooky series overflowing with charm, tension and exhilarating thrills.
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