For Release: Jan. 22, 2007
A spunky heroine braves assassins, opium dens and worse to get to the bottom of her father's mysterious death in Masterpiece Theatre 's adaptation of Philip Pullman's Victorian-era thriller for young adults, "The Ruby in the Smoke . " The program airs Sunday, Feb. 4 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1 and Thursday, Feb. 8 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET2.Pullman's 1985 novel introduced teenage sleuth Sally Lockhart, a self-reliant orphan, schooled by her late father in shooting, bookkeeping and Hindustani. British actress and former pop idol Billie Piper ("Doctor Who") stars as Sally, who is thrust into the role of detective. Receiving an anonymous warning about the "Seven Blessings," she asks one of her father's business associates about it and he clutches his heart and expires on the spot.
"Ruby in the Smoke" opens in London in 1872. Sally's father has recently gone down with the schooner Lavinia while in the South China Sea investigating suspicious activity in his shipping business. Alerted by a letter, postmarked Singapore, to beware of the Seven Blessings, Sally is also directed to look up her father's old friend Major Marchbanks (Miles Anderson).
The major gives Sally a journal that tells the story of the Ruby of Agrapur, which disappeared during the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857. Sally is about to get to the passage that describes her father's role in this event when the journal is stolen out from under her! Thus commences a chase that leads to dastardly deeds in high places and a shocking revelation about Sally's family history.
Julie Walters ( Harry Potter ) stars as Sally's nemesis, Mrs. Holland, a homicidal old woman obsessed with finding a fabulous ruby and convinced that Sally holds the key to its whereabouts. Also appearing are JJ Feild ("To the Ends of the Earth") as photographer Frederick Garland, who offers Sally a hideout and joins her high-risk adventure; Matt Smith as Jim Taylor, an office boy who knows a thing or two about crime-solving; and David Harewood ( Blood Diamond ) as the Bedwell twins: one an opium-addicted sailor who was the last to see Sally's father alive, and the other a clergyman not above a fistfight if the cause is just.
Masterpiece Theatre "Ruby in the Smoke" is a co-production of the BBC and WGBH/Boston More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.