Julian Jarrold is a capable director of difficult relationships, particularly when he lets actors underplay them. We value his darker television work most, while finding some of the feature films polished but slight.
Fi1m perspective
Robbie Coltrane makes Fitz funny enough for us to put up with him in Cracker (1993). We felt grateful for the humour, because his excesses would otherwise make the company exhausting. Julian Jarrold directed episodes in 1994, so the credit for the series cannot sensibly be laid at his door alone. What we value in it is the willingness to keep a difficult character at the centre, even when the writing presses too hard. It is a useful starting point for Jarrold, whose interest in uncomfortable relationships is more distinctive than his fondness for period settings.
His television work moved through Great Expectations (1999) and White Teeth (2002) before his feature debut, Kinky Boots (2005). The low-key acting in Great Expectations is a useful guide to what he does well: he lets performers communicate feeling without pushing towards melodrama. That restraint is worth having in a director of adaptations, where the temptation is often to underline everything. Kinky Boots also exposes a limitation: a film can be neatly finished and still feel slight.
Becoming Jane (2007) and Brideshead Revisited (2008) continued his work with literary subjects. In Brideshead Revisited, the attention to period detail is tempered by emotional restraint, rather than allowed to become the entire attraction. We find the atmospheric grit of Red Riding: 1974 (2009) a more persuasive use of his abilities. Its Super 16mm photography helps give the noir material a roughness that suits it, without requiring the actors to supply all the tension themselves.
The later work includes The Girl (2012) and episodes of The Crown (2016–2020), with television remaining central rather than becoming something he had outgrown. We would be wary of judging him chiefly by the literary features, which offer only part of the picture. Start with Cracker, accepting that its force comes from several hands. Coltrane makes the discomfort worthwhile; nobody is obliged to find Fitz agreeable.
Biography
Julian Jarrold is a British film and television director. He began his career directing television series in the 1980s and 1990s, including episodes of Cracker (1993).
He directed the feature films Kinky Boots (2005), Becoming Jane (2007), Brideshead Revisited (2008) and A Royal Night Out (2015), as well as episodes of The Crown (2016). He has received BAFTA nominations for his television work.
Jarrold was born in Norwich and is a member of the family that founded Jarrolds of Norwich in 1823. He was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and Trinity & All Saints College, Leeds.
