It's well-known that I'm in love with almost everything Neil Gaiman writes, and Neverwhere is no exception. It started as a television mini-series and spawned a novel and a graphic novel (spawned from the novel, not the mini-series — a reflection of a reflection). The story follows the unexpected injection of a boring office worker by the name of Richard Mayhew into the murky world of London Below, a fantastical mirror of the quotidian world of London Above. Following the usual Neil Gaiman-style, magically surreal conceit the names of things in London Above affects the nature of things in London Below, and things that are forgotten above tend to find themselves a place below.
There are six episodes in the mini-series:
- Door
- Knight's Bridge
- Earl's Court To Islington
- Blackfriars
- Down Street
- As Above, So Below
Warning: Spoilers!
Richard Mayhew is a totally boring schmuck whose fiancée Jessica pretty much controls his life. One night while headed to a dinner with Jessica's patron (who is planning a museum showing), the two run into a wounded, homeless girl. Richard realizes she's covered in blood and takes her home, ruining Jessica's night and causing her to cancel the engagement. "Shit!"
Back at his flat, Richard tends to the girl's wounds. She introduces herself as Door. While recovering, Richard receives a visit by the two assassins Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar (who are both quite eerie!). Through the use of animal messengers, Door sends Richard to the Marquis de Carabas, who arranges for safe passage for Door back to London Below.
The next day, Richard wakes up to find himself out of a job, his flat up for sale, and generally ignored by everyone — even the ATM machine. Dazed and confused, he offers a homeless person his credit card and discovers to his surprise that the man recognizes him. The homeless bloke runs off and Richard gives chase, winding up in the domain of the Lord Rat-Speaker in London Below. With the intervention of a rat who recognized Richard from being a messenger for Lady Door, he obtains a rat-speaker guide to the Floating Market, where Door is likely to be.
Unfortunately, the guide Anesthesia informs him that the path leads through Knightsbridge. In a group with a spear-wielding amazon warrior, the three attempt to cross Knightsbridge, but only Richard and the warrior, Hunter, survive the crossing. Lacking a guide, Richard follows Hunter to the Floating Market. As it turns out, Hunter is auditioning to be Lady Door's bodyguard, and, being Hunter, she wins.
Reunited with Lady Door and the Marquis, the four set out to find The Angel, Islington, whom Door's murdered father told her to seek shortly before his death. After consulting the King of the Underground, they discover that Door's family, who have a talent for telekenetically opening locks, have a portal to the Angel's lair. The portal is a painting in London Above that happens to be in Jessica's museum show. Since London Above and London Below are like oil and water, the two are able to crash Jessica's party and open the portal.
The Angel, Islington greets them with the last of the sunwine given to him by Door's ancestor 20,000 years ago. He's a real Angel, alright. He informs them that Door's father and the rest of her family was slain for attempting to unite the warring factions of London Below, and to uncover the murderer Islington requires a key held by the Blackfriars. Door and Richard pass out from the sunwine and wake up to find the Marquis has vanished.
With only Hunter for protection, they journey to the Abbey of the Blackfriars. Hunter defeats the doorman in single combat, and Lady Door solves the riddle. The third test, explain the Blackfriars, is a test of endurance that no one has ever succeeded, and Richard Mayhew must complete it. He is locked inside an underground station and haunted by visions of his "friends" from London Above, all attempting to convince him how worthless his life is and how, in reality, he's that crazy guy talking to himself on the underground. Richard comes perilously close to committing suicide, but a bracelet of Anesthesia's reminds him that London Below can't possibly be an hallucination, and that he isn't crazy after all.
Meanwhile, the Marquis has set out to find Mr. Croup's employer. In trade for a priceless piece of pottery, he discovers (but we don't) their employer. Unfortunately, he doesn't live long enough to tell the Lady Door — Mr. Croup and Vandemar torture him to death and dump him in the sewers.
With the key in hand, Lady Door leads them back to the Floating Market to find Hammersmith, who has apparently known Door since birth. He makes for them a copy of Richard's key, which Door takes. But to return to the Angel, Islington, the three must go down to the bottom of London Below. After being betrayed by their guide, a vampire-like Velvet named Lamia (I mean, really!) Lady Door is betrayed by Hunter, who (it turns out) was working for Mr. Croup and Vandemar this whole time in exchange for a spear to kill the Beast of London.
The Marquis' corpse turns up in the sewers of London Below, and is revived by one of his associates, for he had hidden away a piece of his life with the man in exchange for an earlier favor. With the characteristic neck scarf of a man whose throat has been slashed, the Marquis locates Richard and Hunter just as Door is kidnapped.
Croup and Vandemar take Door to Islington while Richard and Hunter attempt to follow them through the labyrinths below London Below. Due to a plot hole the size of New Jersey, Vandemar and Croup aren't attacked by the Beast of London, but Richard, Hunter and the Marquis are. Thankfully, Hunter has the Spear of Beast-of-London-killing, but she dies in the process, leaving Richard her trusty punching dagger. Anointed with the Beast of London's blood, Richard traverses the rest of the labyrinth and interrupts the Angel, Islington in the process of torturing Door to open the door to Heaven.
As it turns out, Islington was formerly the guardian angel of Atlantis, but he sank the city beneath the waves and was consequently banished from Heaven for millennia until a member of Door's line won the Key to All Reality and opened the way to Heaven. Door, with her fake key, opens the door to Heaven with her ability. Instead of opening to Heaven, she opens it to somewhere "far, far away" and the resulting vortex sucks Islington and the assassins away. With the real key safe and her father's murderer slain, Door returns Richard to London Above using the power of the real Key to All Reality. There he finds everything he ever wanted, but then realizes that he'd rather be the Beast-slayer than an office grunt. The series ends with him giving away everything and being led back to London Below by the Marquis. | 
