"Great Expectations" (BBC1, 2011)

[Panjandrum]

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.

Given the liberties Davies' own adaptations have taken with original texts (think bodice ripping Pride and Prejudice ) I think he should just keep his mouth shut. If my remark was mean-sprited what was his then? What happened to the esprit de corps among scriptwriters? Basically, all recent "classic" novel adaptations are bowdlerising middle-brow tosh anyway as my post #109 makes explicit.

[aeolium]

But then, why else is it Dickens - Jane Austen - Dickens - Jane Austen - Dickens - Jane Austen - Dickens - Jane Austen &c.?

I'm not sure that's entirely fair. There have been TV (and film) adaptations of Trollope, Thackeray, the Brontes, George Eliot, Wilkie Collins - and plenty of Hardy. There have been more Dickens and Austen in the last two decades but I suspect there will be a bit of a lull (at least after the Dickens bicentenary) as most of the major novels have been done fairly recently, and it's getting too expensive to do big serialisations. The Dickens/Austen glut has coincided with boom years for BBC income but that is now no longer the case.

[Anna]

Given the liberties Davies' own adaptations have taken with original texts (think bodice ripping Pride and Prejudice ) I think he should just keep his mouth shut. If my remark was mean-sprited what was his then? What happened to the esprit de corps among scriptwriters? Basically, all recent "classic" novel adaptations are bowdlerising middle-brow tosh anyway as my post #109 makes explicit.

Everyone to their own view, I have no wish to argue. Let us accept we have Artistic Differences but enjoy a good drama

[DracoM]

I'm not sure that's entirely fair. There have been TV (and film) adaptations of Trollope, Thackeray, the Brontes, George Eliot, Wilkie Collins - and plenty of Hardy. There have been more Dickens and Austen in the last two decades but I suspect there will be a bit of a lull (at least after the Dickens bicentenary) as most of the major novels have been done fairly recently, and it's getting too expensive to do big serialisations. The Dickens/Austen glut has coincided with boom years for BBC in come but that is now no longer the case.

And the build-up of huge wardrobes of costumes that have to be used somewhere?

Sorry....bit facetious.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

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

The first adaptation I saw was in around 1959 and in 13 x 30 minute episodes - the sort of time commitment needed for Dickens.
Here are what we have had:
1917 – a silent film, starring Jack Pickford, directed by Robert G. Vignola.
1922 – a silent film, made in Denmark, starring Martin Herzberg, directed by A.W. Sandberg.
1934 – Great Expectations film starring Phillips Holmes and Jane Wyatt, directed by Stuart Walker.
1946 – Great Expectations film starring John Mills as Pip, Valerie Hobson as Estella and Jean Simmons as Young Estella, directed by David Lean.
1954 – a two part television version starring Roddy McDowall as Pip and Estelle Winwood as Miss Havisham. It aired as an episode of the show Robert Montgomery Presents.
1959 – a BBC television version starring Dinsdale Landen as Pip, Helen Lindsay as Estella and Derek Benfield as Landlord.
1967 – a television serial starring Gary Bond and Francesca Annis.
1974 – Great Expectations – a film starring Michael York and Sarah Miles, directed by Joseph Hardy.
1975 – Stage Musical (London West End). Music by Cyril Ornadel, starring Sir John Mills. Ivor Novello Award for Best British Musical.
1981 – Great Expectations – a BBC serial starring Stratford Johns, Gerry Sunquist, Joan Hickson, Patsy Kensit and Sarah-Jane Varley. Produced by Barry Letts, and directed by Julian Amyes.
1983 – an animated children's version, starring Phillip Hinton, Liz Horne, Robin Stewart, and Bill Kerr.
1989 – Great Expectations – a film starring Anthony Hopkins as Magwitch and Jean Simmons as Miss Havisham, directed by Kevin Connor.
1998 – Great Expectations a film starring Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
1999 – Great Expectations a film starring Ioan Gruffudd as Pip, Justine Waddell as Estella, and Charlotte Rampling as Miss Havisham (Masterpiece Theatre—TV)
2009 – Directed by Steve Eagles at 'The Gantry' with Emily Jean, Reza Rajraj, Holly Granger, Hannah Scott and Sam Walshaw.
2009 – Performed at Theatre Clwyd by Graham Bickley, Eleanor Howell, Steven Meo, Rhiannon Oliver, Greg Palmer, Vivien Parry, Robert Perkins, Steffan Rhodri, Simon Watts and directed by Tim Baker.
2011 – Great Expectations - a BBC adaptation written by Sarah Phelps, directed by Brian Kirk and starring Douglas Booth as Pip, Vanessa Kirby as Estella, Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham, Ray Winstone as Abel Magwitch, David Suchet as Jaggers, Shaun Dooley as Joe Gargery, Claire Rushbrook as Mrs Joe and Harry Lloyd as Herbert Pocket.

And then there was the "bonking version" with Gwyneth P.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Jane Austen I can understand not being core subjects, never was into her, dreary, deary

Oh, no no no no NO, Anna!

Austen is the Dorothy Parker of the Regency: acid merciless wit, clear-eyed analytical skills, and a genuine knowledge of human emotions and relationships that she uses to celebrate Love and spit venom on exploitation and "Romance".

And the writing style beyond reproof: the way she informs the reader of her characters' secrets, not by "telling" us Sir Walter Elliot was a vain man who surrounded his room with mirrors but by letting a minor character express his incredulity that he can't move around the room because of all the damn mirrors!

Wonderful, life-celebrating stuff: do give it another "go" I beg you!

Best Wishes.

[french frank]

I'm not sure that's entirely fair [...] The Dickens/Austen glut has coincided with boom years for BBC income

I was thinking of recent times, and of the BBC in particular. They seemed to narrow their focus as far as classic drama is concerned.

But, as you suggest, better a glut than nothing at all.