The Ruby in the Smoke
Encyclopedia
The Ruby in the Smoke is a novel
by the English
author
Philip Pullman
. It was also adapted for television in 2006
.
This book is the first of the Sally Lockhart
Quartet:
and starring Billie Piper
was produced by the BBC
. It aired on BBC One
on 27 December 2006 and on PBS
's Masterpiece Mystery! as The Sally Lockhart Mysteries: The Ruby in the Smoke on 4 February 2007. The UK broadcast attracted 7.07 million viewers. It is notable as marking the TV debut of actor Matt Smith, who would later take over the role of The Doctor
in Piper's former series, Doctor Who
.
All four Sally Lockhart books were expected to be adapted for television; however, as of April 2009 no information has arisen regarding an adaptation of The Tiger in the Well.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
. It was also adapted for television in 2006
2006 in television
2006 in television may refer to:*2006 in American television*2006 in Australian television*2006 in British television*2006 in Canadian television*2006 in Japanese television...
.
Plot summary
This book takes place in 1872. A sixteen year old girl named Veronica Beatrice “Sally” Lockhart goes to visit where her father used to work, a shipping company named Lockhart & Selby. Sally’s father, Matthew Lockhart, died when his ship, the schooner Lavinia, sank when he was coming back from talking to the Dutch shipping agent Hendrik VanEeden. Matthew Lockhart was a former army man, and Sally's late mother was fighter in the Indian Mutiny. On the morning the book begins, Sally received a note in the mail and went to ask her father’s partner, Samuel Selby, what the note meant. Instead she saw Mr. Higgs, Mr. Selby’s secretary, and asked him two things: if he knew of a man named Marchbanks and if he had heard of something called the “Seven Blessings”. After she asked about the letter, Mr. Higgs had a heart attack and died. She tells the porter and finds out that she has to go to the inquest because she was a witness. Sally meets a thirteen year old office boy named Jim Taylor to whom she shows the letter. Jim informs Sally that the letter said that the man named Marchbanks lived in Chatham in Kent. He also volunteers his help, but she doesn’t need it at the moment. Sally goes back to her aunt’s house, where she lives now, and is mocked by her aunt at having no ladylike accomplishments (she CAN shoot a pistol and do financial work). Sally visits a man called Mr Marchbanks, while she is there he gives her book containing information about things which happened when Sally was little. Marchbanks tells her she must leave because there is a woman in his house who is their enemy. The woman follows Sally away from the house but Sally hides from her in the tent of a photographer named Frederick Garland. Before she leaves, he hands her his business card to keep if she ever finds herself in trouble again. She gets on a train and starts to read the book Mr Marchbanks gave her. She falls asleep and when she wakes up the book is gone and the only thing left behind are a few loose pages.This book is the first of the Sally Lockhart
Sally Lockhart
Veronica Beatrice "Sally" Lockhart is a fictional character in a series of books by Philip Pullman.- Background :The character of Sally Lockhart first appears in The Ruby in the Smoke, a play Pullman wrote for performance by a secondary school. In the play, sixteen-year-old Sally Lockhart attempts...
Quartet:
- The Ruby in the Smoke
- The Shadow in the NorthThe Shadow in the NorthThe Shadow in the North is a book by the English author Philip Pullman. It was originally published as The Shadow in the Plate.-Plot:...
- The Tiger in the WellThe Tiger in the WellThe Tiger in the Well is a book by the English author Philip Pullman.-Plot:This book takes place in the autumn of 1881. Sally Lockhart has a daughter named Harriet, a nurse named Sarah-Jane and a cook named Ellie. Her friends Webster, Jim and Charles are in South America taking pictures. One day a...
- The Tin PrincessThe Tin PrincessThe Tin Princess is a young adult novel by the English author Philip Pullman, part of the Sally Lockhart series.-Plot introduction:...
TV adaptation
A TV Film adaptation written by Adrian HodgesAdrian Hodges
Adrian Hodges is a British television and film writer.He began his career in journalism for Screen International magazine and his screenwriting debut was the 1991 television drama Tell Me That You Love Me, followed by screenplays for The Bridge and Tom & Viv for which Miranda Richardson and...
and starring Billie Piper
Billie Piper
Billie Paul Piper is an English singer and actress.She began her career in the late 1990s as a pop singer and then switched to acting. She started in acting and dancing and was talent spotted at the Sylvia Young stage school by Smash Hits magazine who wanted a "face" for their magazine...
was produced by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. It aired on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 27 December 2006 and on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
's Masterpiece Mystery! as The Sally Lockhart Mysteries: The Ruby in the Smoke on 4 February 2007. The UK broadcast attracted 7.07 million viewers. It is notable as marking the TV debut of actor Matt Smith, who would later take over the role of The Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
in Piper's former series, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
.
All four Sally Lockhart books were expected to be adapted for television; however, as of April 2009 no information has arisen regarding an adaptation of The Tiger in the Well.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Billie Piper Billie Piper Billie Paul Piper is an English singer and actress.She began her career in the late 1990s as a pop singer and then switched to acting. She started in acting and dancing and was talent spotted at the Sylvia Young stage school by Smash Hits magazine who wanted a "face" for their magazine... |
Sally Lockhart Sally Lockhart Veronica Beatrice "Sally" Lockhart is a fictional character in a series of books by Philip Pullman.- Background :The character of Sally Lockhart first appears in The Ruby in the Smoke, a play Pullman wrote for performance by a secondary school. In the play, sixteen-year-old Sally Lockhart attempts... |
| Julie Walters Julie Walters Julie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress... |
Mrs Holland |
| JJ Feild JJ Feild John Joseph Feild , known professionally as J. J. Feild, is an Anglo-American actor.-Early and personal life:John Joseph Feild was born in Boulder, Colorado, to British academic Reshad Feild and his American wife. Through his father, he is a relative of British astronomer John Feild... |
Frederick Garland |
| Matt Smith Matt Smith (British actor) Matthew Robert Smith is an English stage and television actor. He is known for his role as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in the British television series Doctor Who, for which he received a BAFTA Award nomination in 2011.... |
Jim Taylor |
| Hayley Atwell | Rosa Garland |
| Chloe Walker | Adelaide |
| David Harewood David Harewood David Harewood is a British actor.-Biography:David Harewood was born and grew up in the Small Heath area of Birmingham, England, where he attended St. Benedict's Junior School and Washwood Heath Comprehensive School. As a schoolboy, he excelled at all sports—from sprinting to basketball to rugby... |
Matthew and Nicholas Bedwell |
| Robert Glenister Robert Glenister Robert Lewis Glenister is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the British TV series Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.-Career:... |
Samuel Selby |
| Elliot Cowan Elliot Cowan Elliot Cowan is an English actor, known for portraying Corporal Jem Poynton in Ultimate Force, Mr Darcy in Lost in Austen and Ptolemy in the 2004 film Alexander.-Background:... |
Henrick Van Eeden |
| Miles Anderson Miles Anderson Miles Anderson is a Zimbabwean actor. He has lived in England and America for the last 40 years.He was born in 1947 in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Educated at Prince Edward school, his father commanded the Rhodesian Army until dismissed by Premier Ian Smith for his stance against racism and a... |
Major Marchbanks |
External links
- Pullman's page on the book
- Overview and background
- Review of the book, Scotland on SundayScotland on SundayScotland on Sunday is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by The Scotsman Publications Ltd and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate The Scotsman...
, 10 December 2006 - BBC mini-site