Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
Fearless in the face of adversity

Call on Dani’s House

Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

Intercept the UFO fabsite

Intercept the UFO fabsite
Defending the Earth against alien invaders!

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
Naughty but nice

Love Exposure

Love Exposure
Flash photography!

Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
The witches of San Francisco

Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
You can bet on it!

On The Grid with Spooks

On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
Shady characters

Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
Coppers with a chequered past

Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
Goose steps

Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Thursday 24 January 2008

Good Sense Prevails!


“Colonel Brandon is an exceptional man, I think. What sadness he has known. He kept faithful to his first love even after she had been torn away from him, even after she was dead. He is the true romantic, I think. It is not what we say or feel that makes us what we are, it is what we do… or fail to do.” So speaks a wiser Marianne to her sister Elinor, near the story’s completion, having learnt some of life’s lessons the hard way, resulting in a near-fatal illness. Andrew Davies’ three-part adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” was exceptional; well acted, well directed, fast moving - much more so than his most famous six-part adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” - and completely compelling, emotionally. For me, David Morrissey gave the standout performance as the highly moral Colonel Brandon. He showed that a man does not have to lie in another person’s lap in order to prove himself passionate, quite the contrary. While Willoughby played with the affections of numerous young women, regardless of consequence, Brandon’s steadfastness won through making him all the more desirable. Marianne’s initial objection to the Colonel, their age difference, is irrelevant in the end. You cannot choose with whom you fall in love and it is surprising, perhaps, that Brandon didn’t fall for the more sensible, though none-less-passionate, Elinor but, true to life, the narrative isn’t so predictable. Would all men were wholly like Colonel Brandon but I suspect most contain some of his good nature together with a little of Willoughby’s deceitfulness… sadly.

“Sense and Sensibility” is the latest in a recent spate of television adaptations of classic novels, all of which have proved excellent. Despite it being seemingly about manners, it has more of the wildness of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” about it than does the earlier “Pride and Prejudice”. When “Sense and Sensibility” began on New Year’s Day, despite the controversial opening, I thought it was going to err on the side of conservatism and, indeed, it wasn’t as radical an adaptation as the preceding five-part presentation of “Oliver Twist” which ran nightly on BBC One in the run up to Christmas. Timothy Spall transformed the character of Fagin, from what we’ve come to expect, and made it refreshingly his own. Before this, there was the female equivalent of “Pickwick Papers” in the five-hour dramatisation of three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell resulting in “Cranford”, another serial with a strong moral backbone. ITV responded to the BBC’s offerings with a new version of E. M. Forster’s “A Room with a View”, starring the gorgeous Elaine Cassidy, and, on Boxing Day, with another Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop”, featuring Derek Jacobi in the role of Little Nell’s gambling-addicted Grandfather. There are more costume dramas in production, to be shown at the end of the year. The BBC have yet to cast their four-part adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” but I can’t wait! It is one of my favourite novels, if not my favourite. I only hope four episodes is long enough to do it justice. ITV will counteract with another version of the aforementioned “Wuthering Heights”. I hope they are both as good as the current crop of dramatisations and, in particular, as strong in every area as “Sense and Sensibility”.

2 comments:

Steve said...

Aside from Cranford I have, alas, missed most of these adaptions but like you am looking forward to Tess (though I'm more a fan of Jude The Obscure). Wuthering Heights should be interesting too - I recall ITV (I think) producing an adaption back in the 80's but can't recall who was in it. I'd love to see a good adaption of Lorna Doone on TV too - one of my favourite novels.

TimeWarden said...

The most recent ITV production of "Wuthering Heights" was but ten years ago and featured Peter Davison as Joseph Lockwood, Sarah Smart as Catherine Linton, Matthew Macfadyen as Hareton Earnshaw and Tom Georgeson as Joseph. Had it on tape for a time!

"Jude" is the toughest of all Hardy's novels, I think. I've read it a couple of times and have the Chris Eccleston version on tape which also includes a certain David Tennant playing a student! "Tess" and "Casterbridge" are my favourites.

It's seven years since "Lorna Doone" was last adapted for TV so I would assume it will be a while before they produce another version. It's one of my Dad's favourite novels.