Old story starts off well...

The Crimson Petal and the White is the classic old story.

Man's wife is going mad, man's father cuts off his allowance because he wants to be a writer, not a businessman, man can't pay bills, man no longer receives coal deliveries, man becomes interested in the services of a prostitute, man sets prostitute up in flat to have exclusive use of her services.

The story must have been written by a thousand writers before Dutch/Australian/Scottish writer Michael Faber retold it in a novel as a Victorian-era tale in 2002.

And who can honestly say that scenario has not been part of his or her life at some point?I know I can't.

Now, as part of Books on Screen on Sky's Vibe channel, a 2011 miniseries based on the book is being shown over two nights on August 24 and 31.

The show starts in rather grim circumstances.

Sugar (Romola Garai), the aforementioned flame-haired lady of the night, is writing something and, cleverly, at the same time narrating.

''Keep your wits about you,'' she says.

''This city is vast and intricate, and you do not know your way around.''

She leaves her purple velvet-lined garret for the sodden, snowy streets, which are clearly thick with violence and evil and dripping with blood.

She goes to a friend who is dying of illness or violence or both to offer her comfort.

''Don't let them toss me in the river,'' the friend moans.

''The eels will eat out my eyes.''

A sad business indeed.

Then we meet William Rackham, the less-than-faithful husband who chases the good Sugar.

Strangely, he is Chris O'Dowd, who was Roy in English comedy The IT Crowd.

He doesn't want to be the heir to a perfume business (apart from the money aspect of it), he wants to be a writer.

Anyway, he hears about Sugar, goes to ''visit'' her, and away our narrative goes.

The Crimson Petal and the White will appeal to people who like slightly over the top period dramas that sort of start out, at least, as weird and slightly out there.

I got bored fairly quickly.

That was despite the great Richard E. Grant being in the cast.

Books on Screen starts on August 10 with D. H. Lawrence's Women in Love, starring Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) and Rachael Stirling (Tipping the Velvet).

People interested in the rock band Dragon (again, not me) can take in the story of rock'n'roll excess that killed half the band in Prime Presents NZ: Dragon, on Tuesday, August 11.

The show chronicles the story of Dragon, with interviews with Todd Hunter and others close to the band.

- Charles Loughrey 

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