#ALEX RIDER SERIES HOW TO#
#ALEX RIDER SERIES SERIES#
#ALEX RIDER SERIES TV#

It’s an action role that takes its cue from Alex’s buttoned-up British spy screen predecessors.

A couple of strangely non child-friendly jokes (one referencing donkey porn, another an intimate body piercing) though, might make for awkward family viewing conversation.Īt the centre of the cast is Alex, played by experienced screen and stage actor Otto Farrant (in his early 20s but just young-looking enough to convince as a 16-year-old in a school blazer). In terms of age-suitability, there appears to be a budget of one expletive per episode, which adds to the naturalism of a teen show.

#ALEX RIDER SERIES SERIES#

Denying the inherent lark of the premise avoids cheesiness, but playing it straight down the middle also leaves the series feeling po-faced in places.

It’s a world free of frivolity, one attempting to deny that there’s anything preposterous about the idea of British Intelligence recruiting a schoolboy to save the world. Grown-ups exchange tense words – and sometimes bullets – in dramatically lit rooms. The colours are muted and desaturated, the London skyline isn’t shiny and upbeat, but chilly and austere. The result is a show that aims to be more Spooksthan Spy Kids. It’s a moody, realist take on the character that’s a world away from the zany, colourful and cartoonish 2006 film (likely because the film wasn’t a hit and and failed to spark the hoped-for franchise). Sony though, has a plan to deal with that – it’s fast-forwarded Alex a couple of years and banished the gadget silliness, pitching the new show as suitable for all ages, children and adults alike.

#ALEX RIDER SERIES TV#

Is 20 years too long a gap to capitalise on the Alex Rider book buzz with a TV adaptation? Haven’t the original fans now grown up and swapped the teen spy for Jack Reacher in the escapist action genre? Perhaps.

The occasion coincides with this eight-part TV adaptation made by Sony and streaming on Amazon Prime Video from Thursday the 4 th of June. Thirteen books later (along with graphic novels, short story collections, world-building tie-ins, Nintendo video games and a 2006 film starring Ewan McGregor), they’re celebrating their 20 th anniversary this year. The action thriller series started in 2000 with the publication of ‘Stormbreaker’. Armed with comically age-appropriate gadgets including metal-dissolving acne cream, a grappling hook disguised as a yo-yo, and a Sony Discman that turns into a circular saw, Alex repeatedly saves the world from Bond-worthy villainous schemes. When Harry Potter has done all he can, reach for Alex.įor everybody else, the Rider books tell the phenomenally popular story of a 14-year-old London schoolboy recruited by MI6 as a spy.

#ALEX RIDER SERIES HOW TO#

Booksellers asked by customers how to entice a young, reluctant, usually male reader into fiction don’t even wait for the question to end before plucking an Alex Rider off their shelves. School libraries keep multiple spine-cracked, Sellotape-repaired copies. ‘Stormbreaker’ posters decorate classroom walls, and in schools around the country, tie-in ‘Scorpia’ key stage worksheets are photocopied by the hundredweight. This spoiler-free Alex Rider review is based on episodes 1-4.įor UK kids born after 1990, and parents and teachers of the same, Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling Alex Rider books need no introduction.

Alex rider series