"Great Expectations" (BBC1, 2011)

[antongould]

".......A brave, grey,splendid opener to the BBC's coming Dickens Year, for which there is now much hope".
Euan Ferguson today's Sunday Grauniad.

[DracoM]

Well, sorry, but Mr Ferguson should stick to managing football teams.

[antongould]

Probably not too Keane on that anymore........

[Panjandrum]

Interesting how much one's view of a radio or TV adaptation is coloured by whether one has read the text upon which the adaptation is based. I managed to catch the radio version of the first few episodes of The Old Curiosity Shop and enjoyed what I heard. Because of the long drawn out nature of the serialisation (every day for five (sic) weeks) my impatience got the better of me, and I picked up a copy of the original Dickens.

Once I had progressed beyond the place the serialisation had reached, my enjoyment of the adaptation dwindled to the point where it became literally unbearable to listen to the devastation wreaked on Dickens' original text. Alongside jarring anachronisms such as "kids" and Kit Nubbins threatening Quilp with "I'll smash yer face in with my bare hands", Quilp now comes across as a cockney rent-a-villain straight out of the East Enders school of central casting, with none of the grotesque menace with which Dickens invests him. The wonderful comic scenes involving "the Marchioness", Dick Swiveller and Sally Brass have been consigned to the tip, while supernumerary scenes involving the Old Gentleman and Mrs Jarley have been added to no apparent benefit. Sadly, it seems, that each scriptwriter has the hubris to believe they can improve on the original, when they should be told to leave well alone.

[aeolium]

Andrew Davies doesn't appear to have been too impressed by the recent production of GE:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/9051438/Andrew-Davies-BBCs-Great-Expectations-missed-Dickens-humour.html

"That was an adaptation of Great Expectations that left so much out it didn’t really feel like Dickens". I quite agree.

An interesting scrap of info in that article was that Davies had been planned to do an adaptation of Dombey and Son for the Beeb in 2009, but that it had been scrapped. It would be good to know why.

[Anna]

An interesting scrap of info in that article was that Davies had been planned to do an adaptation of Dombey and Son for the Beeb in 2009, but that it had been scrapped. It would be good to know why.

In the article it says "At the time he [Davies] blamed a “new breed” of executives who were too populist" which may very well be true, alternatively it may be to do with fee structure within the BBC and (bearing in mind cuts) it was cheaper to use an existing East Enders script writer than commission Davies? (Also bearing in mind his Bleak House stretched to 8 hours of film with a huge budget rather than the 2 hours of GE?) Personally, I believe the populist theory combined with the BBC looking for world wide sales in many countries, and simplified means simpler dubbing.

[french frank]

An interesting scrap of info in that article was that Davies had been planned to do an adaptation of Dombey and Son for the Beeb in 2009, but that it had been scrapped. It would be good to know why.

It's certainly true that 'everyone knows' GE, whereas Dombey and Son is much less well known. Does it not have roles for a Burberry model or Gillian Anderson?

[aeolium]

I'm not sure that D&S is 'much less well known'. The BBC did an adaptation of it in the 1980s (and also I think in the 1960s). I don't know how often GE has been adapted for TV (pre-2011) but probably not more than twice. There is the famous Lean film, but it's in black and white and I wonder how many people look at b&w stuff these days.

Anyway, if it's less well known, all the more reason to adapt it

Apropos the budget, I think most of these big drama adaptations are co-productions with, e.g., WGBH Boston or other partners. Also there is plenty of revenue to be recouped from selling the series overseas, and DVD sales etc - if it's well done. Of course the way the budgets are allocated may preclude too much being spent on a single project - I don't really know.

[Anna]

Anyway, if it's less well known, all the more reason to adapt it

Exactly! And how well known is Bleak House? Not everyone's first choice I guess, but it went on to earn the BBC a considerable sum of money. I would venture the best known are GE, Nicholas Nicholby, Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Old Curiosity Shop, Little Dorrit (actually not too sure about that one) so, if you say a certain novel is not the most popular and therefore will not be dramatised it's a bit like saying people only want to hear Bolero or that perishing Lark, isn't it? Oh, and did you see, Walter Scott's Ivanhoe has been rewritten to make it easier by a) leaving out the punctuation and b) leaving out chunks of it to fit in with reduced attention spans. Perhaps they should have done it in txt spk?

[Panjandrum]

Andrew Davies doesn't appear to have been too impressed by the recent production of GE:

"That was an adaptation of Great Expectations that left so much out it didn’t really feel like Dickens". I quite agree.

An interesting scrap of info in that article was that Davies had been planned to do an adaptation of Dombey and Son for the Beeb in 2009, but that it had been scrapped. It would be good to know why.

Sounds like a case of sour grapes to me. Davies has drunk so often from the BBC trough that this grumble leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

[Anna]

Sounds like a case of sour grapes to me. Davies has drunk so often from the BBC trough that this grumble leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

That's a pretty mean remark to make I think. And totally unnecessary. The adaptation of GE was indeed a travesty, he was just speaking the truth.

[aeolium]

I would venture the best known are GE, Nicholas Nicholby, Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Old Curiosity Shop, Little Dorrit (actually not too sure about that one) so, if you say a certain novel is not the most popular and therefore will not be dramatised it's a bit like saying people only want to hear Bolero or that perishing Lark, isn't it? Oh, and did you see, Walter Scott's Ivanhoe has been rewritten to make it easier by a) leaving out the punctuation and b) leaving out chunks of it to fit in with reduced attention spans.

Yes, I have to confess that looking at the wiki entry for GE there have been quite a few films and TV adaptations, so I got that wrong. Little Dorrit was successfully adapted in a 2-part film fairly recently, and shortly after that was done by the BBC. I think Our Mutual Friend and Oliver Twist are probably better known than The Old Curiosity Shop. Martin Chuzzlewit has probably gone out of favour because of its strong critique of aspects of American culture, so few overseas sales there

I must say my attention span was somewhat reduced when I tried to read Scott's Ivanhoe (unrewritten version) but I put it down to the style

[french frank]

if you say a certain novel is not the most popular and therefore will not be dramatised it's a bit like saying people only want to hear Bolero or that perishing Lark, isn't it?

True. But then, why else is it Dickens - Jane Austen - Dickens - Jane Austen - Dickens - Jane Austen - Dickens - Jane Austen &c.? Quite honestly, I don't imagine many under the age of 40 know any D or JA unless it's been on television.

[Anna]

How could I have missed out Oliver Twist. the Nation's favourite! I liked the last adaptation with Timothy Spall as Fagin. Radio 4 next week have a series of plays about Dickens' London. I've just finished reading his slim volume called Night Walks (basically he walks around London at night!) From a brief glance one of the plays is based upon one of his stories.

[Anna]

True. But then, why else is it Dickens - Jane Austen - Dickens - Jane Austen - Dickens - Jane Austen - Dickens - Jane Austen &c.? Quite honestly, I don't imagine many under the age of 40 know any D or JA unless it's been on television.

Oh, surely Dickens and Shakespeare are still core books for schools? (Jane Austen I can understand not being core subjects, never was into her, dreary, deary) Do you really think 30 somethings or 30 lessers, have never read Dickens, how can that be, no it's impossible. And that's why he is popular, cos everyone has read at least one of his novels and, wants to see it brought to life. However badly that may have been in the case of GE at Christmas