When I first read The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, I hoped it would be turned into a television series and not a film. So I was thrilled when HBO and the BBC released a three-part series based on the book in February. While there are quite a few digressions from the novel, the series is undoubtedly heartbreaking and intense. It was previously playing on HBO, and now needs to be downloaded.
The show starts at the point when a “casual vacancy” is created at the Pagford Parish council after council member Barry Fairbrother dies of a brain aneurysm. We witness a battle between Barry’s commitment to the development of the impoverished council estate, named Fields, and the proposal to turn the community welfare centre and methadone clinic, Sweetlove, into a spa. He is opposed, before and after he dies, by the very obnoxious Mollisons, who believe a world-class health retreat is their chance to put Pagford on the map.
Soon after Barry’s death, we stumble upon a play of murky politics that is hidden behind the idyllic village charm of Pagford. Add to that Fairbrother’s ghost, who seems to be watching everything and spilling dirt on each of the candidates on the parish council website.
The series isn’t just about parish council politics. Class differences and the elitist snobbery of families such as the Mollisons lie at the heart of the show. Among the memorable characters is Krystal Weedon, an understandably angry teenager who finds her already messy life further complicated by Fairbrother’s death. Krystal is the most remarkable character in a group of teenagers who constantly stand by watching with anger, shame and disgust the going-ons between the adults.
A lot of the detail that was missed out from the book or changed for the series actually makes the series slightly less bleak and painful. To include it all would mean developing the characters even more and making the series longer than three parts. That does not mean that the show won’t leave you with a very heavy feeling in the gut.
Read the book. Watch the series. Do one or both. Just don’t miss out on JK Rowling’s grim depiction of life outside and after Hogwarts.