'Black Narcissus' Plays It Safe In FX's First Foray Into British Imports
As 2020 draws to a close, yet another avenue opens up for British co-productions, as FX teams up with the BBC to bring over a new adaptation of Black Narcissus.
Based on the 1939 novel by Rumer Godden and the 1947 British psychological drama directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the new three-part series debuted this week on FX, and all three episodes are now streaming on FX on Hulu. Unfortunately, the series brings little that's new to the table, with a workman-like outcome that plays it better safe than sorry.
It wasn't so long ago that finding British imports on American TV was a struggle. For decades, PBS and Masterpiece were the mainstays for Americans to find BBC and ITV series. That began to change a little in the 1990s when basic cable expanded, and channels like A&E and Bravo launched with commercial-free highbrow programming aspirations. But both were relatively short-lived in those dreams, and by the early aughts, the best hope outside of the PBS lane was to subscribe to a high enough tier on cable to get BBC America.
