TV REVIEW : ‘The Boy in the Bush’ on KCET

In 1924H. Lawrence wrote (witL. Skinner) “The Boy in the Bush,” a multilayered coming-of-age novel, full of high adventure and Dickensian eccentrics, male rites of passage, mysticism and Lawrence’s unorthodox religious, sexual and social views.

In it, a restless 18-year-old English boy of the 1800s is sent to Australian relatives to “go on the land,” with parental hopes that it will make a man of him.

And now for the TV version. A three-part dramatization, adapted by Hugh Whitemore and directed by Rob Stewart, debuts with Part 1 on Sunday at 6 p.m. on KCET Channel 28.

Is your bicarbonate handy?

Kenneth Branagh (of “Masterpiece Theatre’s” “Fortunes of War”) is the boy Jack Grant, who upon his arrival becomes smitten with his sultry cousin Monica (pouty Sigrid Thornton of “The Man From Snowy River”).

He proves himself to her brother Tom (Jon Blake) by punching him in the face--naturally--and gains a rival for Monica’s attentions, the hateful Esau (Stephen Bisley). Mary (Celia De Burgh) has a yen for him and old Gran (cartoonishly played by Bunney Brooke) confides in him. Mysterious Dr. Rackett (Alfred Bell) offers him portentous counsel at moments of crisis.

We see a lot of horseback riding, but we’re given little feel of the country, or of the extraordinary “mateship” between Tom and Jack, or of Jack’s intense love for Tom’s family.

Of Jack’s internal spiritual struggle, his moments of exulting invincibility, his growing affinity for the undisciplined bush and his identification with Old Testament patriarchy, we see even less.

Here it is Rackett who verbalizes Jack’s thoughts, making him seem shallow and easily led.

Subtlety is not the strong suit of this lengthy soap opera. Bruce Smeaton’s rag-time score doesn’t help much, either, punctuating climactic moments with “ tum-ta-tumtum “ musical passages.

Jack’s last line of dialogue sums it up: “It’s almost a joke,” he says. Almost, indeed.