J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys [DVD]

Ian Holm is unforgettable in the central role and overall there is a sense of decency, and an absence of sensationalism, in this attempt to give shape to the complex and painful story of this unusual man's emotional needs. I haven't seen the recent movie covering similar ground so can't make comparisons although it's worth mentioning that Birkin says he realised his originally intended one-off drama would compromise the complexity of Barrie's character and held out for a three part series (would the Beeb be as flexible today?). Once you've seen Ian Holm, it's certainly difficult to imagine a better performance: Nico, the last surviving brother was, apparently, "undone" when he first watched Holm as "Uncle Jim."

Incidentally, Nico wrote angrily to a newspaper when a columnist referred to Barrie as a closet pederast - he thought Barrie was incapable of "stirrings in the undergrowth" for anyone - but what the series delicately suggests is that simply being the focus of Barrie's emotional needs could itself be a considerable burden, whatever the comforts or bribes - holidays, gifts - in its wake. The moment I remember most vividly from first watching the series is when Barrie, having frightened off a friend (read: rival) of the adult Michael, is reciting from his play Mary Rose and we see a look of wry amusement on Michael's face, not unmixed with affection; but we've also been given enough material by then to make sense of Michael's later fate.

Overall, this is a fascinating story told superbly well with an astonishing central performance - witness the moment Holm as Barrie learns of the death of one of his "boys" at the front, or his reaction to his wife's intention to divorce him. The earlier scenes with Barrie and the children alone, for which no documentary evidence exists, wrote themselves, according to Birkin, and they are extraordinary. And given the mass of unecessary, anecdotal commentaries on so many DVDs, it's also a relief that no one is talking over those scenes or any others - watch them and engage with them yourself, as Nature intendeded. Birkin speaks in a short, separate piece to camera about the genesis of the project.

A minor point: it might have been useful also to include Andrew Birkins Without Walls piece on Barrie from some time in the 80s or 90s, but I can't remember how much that might have duplicated what he has to say today.

J.M.Barrie WAS the REAL Peter Pan, a little boy who yearned for a lost childhood that he never had, now grown old in a man's body that he never came to terms with.

His love of children was an extension of his own child-like self.

The present day cynics who try to paste a sexual overtone onto this story show themselves as misguided and misinformed and were rebuffed by the surviving brother who was adamant to J.M's totally innocent love of the children.

Ian Holm gives his greatest performance as J.M. Barrie, he is heartbreakingly lonely. Although lorded as a writer and living an affluent lifestyle his world is without joy.

Then he meets 'his lost boys' to whom he becomes by degrees, playmate, guide and father figure until the world he contsructs, his 'NEVERLAND' gradually is invaded by the real world and begins to unravel with tragic consequences.

A memorable experience.......film making at its very best.

If you want to be uplifted and touched.... buy this series.