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Period TV drama they haven’t done yet - but you wish they would.

(27 Posts)
Witzend Sat 09-Apr-22 14:18:51

Or would you? After the other thread, I wondered whether a TV version of some of Barbara Pym’s novels would work well. My favourite is Crampton Hodnet - IMO very funny, but I think you’d have to have the central character, Jessie, talking to the camera now and then, which can be very effective. (E.g. in the original House of Cards.)

OTOH it have to be extremely well done - no jarring dialogue etc. (it’s set in pre WW2 North Oxford) or I’d probably hate it.

paddyann54 Sat 09-Apr-22 15:14:39

The life of Robert Bontine Cunningham-Graham ,one of the founders of the Labour Party and the first SNP leader .He had an amazing life there was a statue of him near my school in Dumbarton where many streets are named after him .He was known as Don Roberto from his adventures in South America .

paddyann54 Sat 09-Apr-22 15:16:07

The frst ever Socialist MP in Westminster

Aveline Sat 09-Apr-22 15:28:26

The life and times of Elsie Inglis. A doctor who was told to 'go home and sit quietly' when she offered her services during WW1. So she set up and ran an all female mobile hospital and saved thousands of lives. She's venerated in Serbia. Not enough here.
It's a great story on so many levels. A good scriptwriter could create a fabulous series or even a film.

sodapop Sat 09-Apr-22 17:13:23

That sounds like something I would enjoy Aveline must admit I had not heard of Elsie Inglis before

GagaJo Sat 09-Apr-22 19:32:52

Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

The Well of Loneliness.

The Scarlet Letter.

TerriBull Sat 09-Apr-22 19:53:55

GagaJo there was a film of the Scarlet Letter back in the nineties, it's a good story, I can't remember whether I liked the film or not, it was a long time a go now.

TerriBull Sat 09-Apr-22 20:01:20

and now my memory has been triggered, I'm pretty sure I saw The Tenant of Wildfell Hall on the telly as well, because I remember there was some publicity around it along the lines of "here's the one by the Bronte sister that never gets a mention"

Ladyleftfieldlover Sat 09-Apr-22 20:06:01

Hasn’t there been a tv version of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall? It’s my favourite Bronte book.

Ladyleftfieldlover Sat 09-Apr-22 20:07:34

and… I listened to a talk recently which suggested that the Tenant of Wildfell Hall had an impact on the Married Women’s Property Act law.

BigBertha1 Sat 09-Apr-22 22:26:29

Cazalet Chronicles....or has this been done?

Witzend Sun 10-Apr-22 10:55:08

I was pretty sure Wildfell had been done, Gagajo, but did just check on Amazon, where the DVD is available for £5.99.
Tara Fitzgerald plays the lead.

It must have been quite daring at the time, to suggest that a woman was ever justified in leaving her husband, after solemn vows made in church.

I once read some contemporary comments on Jane Eyre, written shortly after it was first published. One (female) critic said sternly that it was very wrong of Jane to wish to move out of that station in life in which it had pleased God to place her.
(Such a bad example to set to the poorer classes, who need to Know Their Place!)

Might add that I much prefer Wildfell to Wuthering Heights.

hollysteers Sun 10-Apr-22 11:03:20

Elizabeth Gaskell’s other novels would make excellent dramatisations, also Dorothy Whipple and Edith Wharton.
I have just read “The Making of a Marchioness” by Frances Hodgson Burnett who wrote the Secret Garden and throughout, thought “What a wonderful TV series this would make!”
Producers show a dearth of imagination and keep returning to the same old Austen and Dickens.

Grandma70s Sun 10-Apr-22 11:07:28

For a light Sunday tea-time sort of series, I’ve always thought Miss Read’s Thrush Green novels would be good. There are some great characters like Dottie Harmer, Ella Bembridge and Mrs Pringle. The setting in the Cotswolds is picturesque. They would have to omit the parts about the ‘gipsies’, I suspect - probably not politically correct.

Witzend Sun 10-Apr-22 11:23:20

This is a children’s book (published in the 50s) that nobody else ever seems to have heard of - Chalky, by Howard Apps.

I recently re-read it - it’s an adventure story of 2 boys in search of a long-lost diamond, partly set in the Essex marshes. Funnily enough, except for the odd little thing it doesn’t really read ‘dated’ - thoroughly enjoyable even for an adult! - extremely well written and very funny in places.

I’ve often thought it’d make a brilliant film.

BigBertha1 Sun 10-Apr-22 11:52:00

I loved Miss Read. I think I need to re- read them now they were so comforting.

I loved Mapp and Lucia and would like to see that again.

TerriBull Sun 10-Apr-22 11:53:35

Having seen Sophie Raworth 9 am previously Andrew Marr, she featured a piece about Kate Atkinson's Life After Life soon to be shown drama, which is set around 1910 at the beginning and finishes post 2nd WW. Loved the book hope the dramatisation does it justice.

Daisymae Sun 10-Apr-22 11:56:45

It's been done before with Lee Remick but definitely time for a remake - Jennie Lady Randolf Churchill. There was a life lived.

Daisymae Sun 10-Apr-22 11:58:16

BigBertha1

I loved Miss Read. I think I need to re- read them now they were so comforting.

I loved Mapp and Lucia and would like to see that again.

There's a couple of versions on Prime, or could be Netflix, both excellent.

trisher Sun 10-Apr-22 12:05:08

I was going to say the Louise Penny Inspector Gamanche series of books, but I've just Googled it and they started filming in 2021. Alfred Molina is Gamanche-good casting. It's called Three Pines can't find if it is on release yet. It's on Amazon Prime. I love the books. Canadian detective series.

TerriBull Sun 10-Apr-22 13:18:04

BigBertha Cazlet Chronicles has been done, quite a while back now. The books were very good.

FoghornLeghorn Sun 10-Apr-22 16:39:49

Hilary Mantell’s The Mirror and the Light, the last in the trilogy of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

AreWeThereYet Sun 10-Apr-22 19:15:10

trisher There was a film made about 10 years ago starring Nathaniel Hawthorne as Inspector Gamache. Apparently Louise Penny didn't like it and thought it was badly cast and refused to allow any more to be made. Someone has obviously changed her mind. I thought it was okay, I really like her books.

Mamissimo Sun 10-Apr-22 19:25:36

Please can we have "What Katy Did" and "What Katy Did Next"? I loved those books!

trisher Sun 10-Apr-22 19:27:52

AreWeThereYet

trisher There was a film made about 10 years ago starring Nathaniel Hawthorne as Inspector Gamache. Apparently Louise Penny didn't like it and thought it was badly cast and refused to allow any more to be made. Someone has obviously changed her mind. I thought it was okay, I really like her books.

Thanks. I shall look for that. I love those books. I can understand her not allowing any more if she didn't like it. You somehow get the sense that Gamanche is a character she loves.