The Miniaturist review: A tense BBC period drama featuring an excellent Anya Taylor-Joy performance

Adaptation of Jessie Burton’s book of the same name, tells the story of a young woman, Nella Oortman, who has been semi-reluctantly married off to a wealthy merchant

A scene from the Miniaturist on BBC1 (The Forge/BBC/ Laurence Cendrowicz)

With the BBC forced to drop their Agatha Christie adaptation of Ordeal By Innocence from their Christmas line-up, pressure has fallen upon the shoulders of their other two dramas — Little Women and The Miniaturist — to impress. Considering the scarcity of good Television this Christmas, that’s no small task.

Originally planned as a three-part series, The Miniaturist — an adaptation of Jessie Burton’s book of the same name — tells the story of a young woman, Nella Oortman (Anya Taylor-Joy), who has been semi-reluctantly married off to a wealthy merchant, Johannes Brandt (Alex Hassell). Uprooted from the provincial Holland countryside and taken to Amsterdam, the 18-year-old must quickly adapt to living with Johannes’s sister, Marin (Romola Garai), and her two housekeepers, Otto (Paapa Essiedu) and Cornelia (Hayley Squires).

From the moment Nella steps foot in the house, the tension's palpable with secrets upon secrets hidden within these dark rooms, one of which may be an incestuous relationship between Johannes and Marin - something all concerned seemingly wants hidden from prying neighbours.

To put Nella off the scent, the absent Johannes purchases a wedding gift: a dollhouse replica of their home. As Nella goes about furnishing the small house, though, it becomes abundantly clear the elusive titular miniaturist - whom she never meets - knows something she doesn’t, whose ominous packages offer clues about the house’s secrets and even seemingly tell the future

From the off, The Miniaturist gears viewers up for something horrible, a notion heightened by the casting of current scream-queen Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Split), who controls the camera’s gaze masterfully. The dark house itself adds another layer, those four walls trapping Nella the same way Peebo the parakeet remains locked in a cage (a slightly on-the-nose analogy).

Unfortunately, despite the show’s title, the actual miniaturist offers little more than intrigue, instead focusing on Johannes’s biggest secret - a revelation we discover during the first hour. The moment the twist surprise drops, there’s 20 minutes of action with the episode's shocks (Jack stabbing the dog) feeling slightly rushed.

You can imagine the episode originally ended here on a blood-filled cliffhanger. However, things press on, quickly wrapping up the dog twist resulting in The Miniaturist somewhat losing the tension it had carefully built. By answering questions of who the miniaturist is with only 20-minutes to go, the show fails to delve deep enough and ends with a final shot of Marin that steals directly from the EastEnders playbook.

Still, The Miniaturist has a lot going for it. Taylor-Joy gives an excellent performance playing the innocent Nella who thankfully asks the questions viewers want answering rather than being a hopeless protagonist (as we are first led to believe). Garai as the controlling sister and Squires as the housemaid also play their characters fantastically, the dynamic between the three woman provoking questions as to who controls who in the Brandt household.

Hopefully, the tension can be ratcheted up again in the second episode with a wider glimpse at Amsterdam rather than just the dark rooms of the house. There surely has to also be something more to the actual miniaturist, whoever they may be. While not the BBC’s strongest Christmas drama of the year, The Miniaturist makes for an intriguing watch regardless.