Elizabeth George mystery finally comes to PBS

LOS ANGELES -- Harry Potter fans eagerly awaiting a second film have nothing on Inspector Lynley addicts: It's been 14 years since the first mystery was published and they haven't seen one scrap of celluloid.

Until now.

"A Great Deliverance," which introduced author Elizabeth George and her intricate, psychologically intense detective novels, is finally coming to American television.

The two-part series from Britain's BBC and PBS station WGBH in Boston airs Monday and Aug. 26, as part of PBS' "Mystery!" series.

The gang's all here, including sexy, aristocratic Thomas Lynley of Scotland Yard; Detective Sgt. Barbara Havers, his sadsack partner from the other side of the tracks, and their circle of family, friends and former and future lovers, not to mention killer and victim.

The program, one of five Lynley mysteries filmed by the BBC, already aired in Britain. The other four are expected to reach PBS in summer 2003.

In "A Great Deliverance," a Yorkshire farmer has been found decapitated with his blood-spattered, suddenly mute daughter nearby. The whodunit is intertwined with a how-are-they-feeling, especially the emotionally wounded Lynley -- his best friend has just wed his old flame.

George fans will have to cope with some plot changes (and certain casting decisions; more on that later) but her book's intelligent tone and unsparing darkness are captured in this satisfying production.

We're left, however, with the resounding mystery of why it took so long to film George's hugely popular works, which publisher Bantam says have sold more than 8 million copies. Turns out the culprit is the author herself -- but, she insists, with good reason.

English tradition

George's mysteries are as steeped in English tradition and flavor as a strong cup of tea and she wanted to make certain that any movies or TV shows based on them were as carefully brewed.

Translation: Hollywood need not apply. Although George is American and lives in the California city of Huntington Beach, she insisted her Lynley mysteries (11 thus far) be entrusted to British filmmakers.

She recalled debating the issue with one persistent American producer.

"I said 'Look, let me give you a very simple answer as to why I will not sell to Hollywood: "The Mirror Crack'd.' That horrible Agatha Christie film they did with Elizabeth Taylor," George said, a hint of a shudder in her voice as she recalls the 1980 flop.

Her nightmarish visions included wholesale destruction of her stoutly British characters and settings (the result of regular George research journeys to the island).

"They could say 'We really like this. But we're going to set it in Los Angeles. Instead of having a British aristocrat we'll have a fat, divorced cop who smokes a cigar.' They can do whatever they want."

Even the BBC adaptation, George acknowledges, is not exact. While the film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" followed J.K. Rowling's book like a blueprint, the "Mystery!" series has taken certain liberties.

The most striking involve casting. In a nutshell, Lynley (Nathaniel Parker) is dark-haired, not blond; Havers (Sharon Small) is thinner and more attractive, and Deborah, Lynley's lost love, isn't a redhead with romantically flowing tresses.