Any Human Heart is a British television drama, which is based on the novel, by British writer, William Boyd. The series and the novel, which is called Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart, follows the life of Logan Mountstuart, a writer that lived from 1906 to 1991. The book and television drama shows Logan’s life through three different perspectives.

 

Although the film only follows one man’s life, it is a life, which is filled with twists and turns. Of course, a lot of mistakes are made and many interesting folks are met along the way. Logan even forms a long friendship with Ernest Hemingway (Julian Ovenden). Throughout the television series, we see Logan being played by four individual actors, Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen, Sam Claflin and Conor Nealon. Each is brilliant, although the childhood of Logan is barely explored.

Logan’s friends, Ben Leeping (Ed Stoppard) and Peter Scabius (Samuel West) are also integral to the series and Logan’s life. Gillian Anderson and Tom Hollander make appearances as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The series explores Logan’s many relationships, many of which are destroyed by his own hand. His first true interest, Land Fothergill (Charity Wakefield), winds up leaving him, after he completes his first book, The Girl Factory. Of course, he should’ve known the feminist wasn’t going to be happy about the book’s content.

His second true love comes in the form of Hayley Atwell, who plays Freya Deverell. A failed marriage is thrown in between and Logan even has a child with Lottie (Emerald Fennell). Unfortunately, he follows his heart and makes the right choice. Of course, it is not meant to be.

In order to prevent myself from giving anyway spoilers, I’ll leave it at that. Although the television series is slightly slow, it is more than worth the slow grind. The series approaches human life in a way that many others do not and it is ultimately very depressing. Much like many of us, Logan makes mistakes and eventually pays for them. Perhaps, his father is correct, when he says that life is all about luck? At times, it definitely feels as such.

Either way, Any Human Heart is definitely worth checking out. The 4 episodes, which are a little over an hour a piece, are well worth your time and will leave you questioning your life in the end. The acting is great and the show is packed full of laughter and sadness. For that, Any Human Heart deserves a 8.5 out of 10.

I would like to know what happened to the other characters, such as Land, Gabrielle, Monday and some of the others. Has anyone read the book, by chance?