Mansfield Park BBC very old adaptation…

Started watching Northanger Abbey last night. The costumes give Netflix a run for their money. Hilarious

Witzend

One old series I missed most of first time around, was The Pallisers - 24 episodes! Great for a winter evenings binge-watch!
I’m a fan of the 6 novels they were based on, and I still think the TV version was well done.

The Way We Live Now (another adaptation from Trollope but much more recent) is another I’d watch again. IMO the book is a cracking read, too, and David Suchet in the main male role was brilliant.

Yes, to both. I am a Trollope fan - and all the dramatisations have been so good. For a good read, I recommend The Belton Estate. The heroine is fascinating, as is Trollope's insight to the plight of a landowner's daughter when, as the result of her brothers profligacy, she is left penniless when her father dies and dependent on marriage with one of 2 men as her only means of support.

One old series I missed most of first time around, was The Pallisers - 24 episodes! Great for a winter evenings binge-watch!
I’m a fan of the 6 novels they were based on, and I still think the TV version was well done.

The Way We Live Now (another adaptation from Trollope but much more recent) is another I’d watch again. IMO the book is a cracking read, too, and David Suchet in the main male role was brilliant.

Barchester Chronicles was a masterpiece - one of my favourite lines was when the incomparable Alan Rickman, playing the 'Odious Mr Slope', was departing Barchester in disgrace. As he left the presence of the Bishop and his terrifying wife, he turned and said with venom 'May you live for ever'. There could not have been a more evil curse to place upon the poor Bishop - and nobody could have done it better than Alan Rickman.

Lilyflower I absolutely agree with you about Barchester Chronicles. Alan Rickman was superb as was Nigel Hawthorne as Arch Deacon Grantly and Geraldine McEwen as Mrs Proudie.

Two others I love are dramatisations of two of Mrs Gaskell's novels. Wives and Daughters, dramatised very well by Andrew Davies in the late 1990s and North and South, not the most recent version, with Richard Armitage as the handsome hero, but a version going back to 1975 with Patrick Stewart in the male lead and totally convincing as a Yorkshire millowner. This adaption is showing its ages, the production values are different and it is a verk dark, as opposed to light, version, but it is far more true to the book than is the more recent one which was sexed up and rewritten to meet modern fashions.

I’ve been re-watching The Forsyte Saga - not the original series that we all glued to in the sixties but the later one with Gina McKee as Irene and Damien Lewis as Soames Forsyte. What a piece of casting that was - with his repressed, buttoned up rage and ice cold heartlessness as Soames he was the perfect choice for Henry in Wolf Hall.

The Mansfield Park that I watch regularly is the 1999 version starring Frances O’Connor and Johnny Lee Miller.

I watched the old version too, it was interesting to compare the script and the styles of them.

My favourite Jane Austen film is the Emma version with Romola Garai starring in it.

Boz

Bluecat

There was a very good production of Emma by the BBC, back in the 1970s. Doran Godwin was lovely in the leading role. I don't know why she didn't become a bigger star.

And I agree that David Rintoul was better as Darcy. Never understood what people saw in Colin Firth's Darcy.

Probably a wet shirt. Lets face it, this was a sexed up version.
Rintoul played it to the book.

I loved the old adaptation of ‘Emma’ at the time. Michael Jayston was a charming Mr Knightley.

For sheer entertainment it would be hard to beat the adaptation of ‘Barchester Towers’ with Alan Rickman as Mr Slope. The cast is amazing and both true to the characters as they were written and relatable for a non Victorian audience.

I agree with the truism that is is easier to make a success out of a dramatisation of a less well written book than a first class one.

I am not sure it would be possible to make a success of an adaptation of ‘Mansfield Park’ for a modern audience at all. Much of the action is seen in the text from Fanny’s point of view and her Christian principles are very different from a modern woman’s perspective. To today’s eyes she will seem a prig and her subservient social position in the novel means she cannot drive the action by doing anything except endure emotional hardship and step in when things go wrong.

Colin Firth's Darcy was wonderful for me. I still love watching the BBCs adaptation. I must say I fast forward a few bits now, even though first time viewing I loved seeing it all.

Witzend

*Boz*, I’m not at all surprised if MP didn’t sell well at the time. The main characters come across as weak and totally uninspiring.

I completely disagree, it is a fascinating book covering far deeper emotions and social issues than P&P and with a wider and more diverse range of characters living in a far wider world.

Boz, I’m not at all surprised if MP didn’t sell well at the time. The main characters come across as weak and totally uninspiring.

I liken Pride and Prejudice to Henry XIII. All the focus when it came to dramatisation was with Henry but The Wars of the Roses were far more interesting. Other Austen works have been overshadowed by P&P. Tho my shame the nearest I’ve got to reading Austen is Bridget Jones Diary so I’m new to all these stories.

My all time favourite will have to be Love for Lydia. Probably hasn’t stood the test of time but we loved it at the time.

Bluecat

There was a very good production of Emma by the BBC, back in the 1970s. Doran Godwin was lovely in the leading role. I don't know why she didn't become a bigger star.

And I agree that David Rintoul was better as Darcy. Never understood what people saw in Colin Firth's Darcy.

Probably a wet shirt. Lets face it, this was a sexed up version.
Rintoul played it to the book.

There was a very good production of Emma by the BBC, back in the 1970s. Doran Godwin was lovely in the leading role. I don't know why she didn't become a bigger star.

And I agree that David Rintoul was better as Darcy. Never understood what people saw in Colin Firth's Darcy.

I do. Can’t remember if I bought the books after seeing the series or if it was the other way round. I’m trying to remember the name of the actress who starred in it. The series that had the biggest effect ( affect?) on me back then was Nana. I bought and read all of Zolas books after seeing it. I think the BBC must have been responsible for getting people like me interested in the classics.

M0nica

I much prefer the older series of almost any classical book, to anything done recently.

For example I much prefer the Pride and Prejudice dramatised by Fay Weldon and starring (I think) David Rintoul as Mr Darcy to the dreadful sexed up and marmelised version starring Colin Firth.

A book is a product of its period and that should be reflected in its dramatisation. It should not be sexed up ans generally restructured to reflect current changed attitudes, or to make it easy for young people to understand.

I totally agree about the David Rintoul version of Pride and Prejuduce which I find most people have never heard of. Elizabeth Garvie as Elizabeth Bennet was perfect casting. I own an old VHS recording but my player doesn’t work any more.
However I did enjoy the fairly recent film of Emma with Johnny Flynn as Knightly and Anna Taylor Joy as Emma.

Did anyone watch 'Clayhanger' back in the late seventies? Twenty six episodes, lifted word for word from Arnold Bennet's books, and enthralling. About ten years go I bought the CD, and was amazed at the glacial slowness of the production - audiences today might find it boring.

Mansfield Park is one of my favourite books and I loved watching this adaptation. Very true to Austen's novel. Sir Thomas is wonderfully acted with great gravitas. He is perhaps portrayed as being more kindly than he is in the novel. Sylvestra le Touzel has beautiful limpid eyes and a pronounced jawline which prevents her from being conventionally pretty but the two perhaps symbolise Fanny's combination of gentle sweetness and moral strength. I completely believed in her Fanny. A compelling performance. Also Mary Crawford was charming and full of life. I thought Henry's reading to Lady B from Shakespeare about the fallen angel Lucifer was beautifully done. He and Mary are indeed tempters and devil figures but there is something sad too in their attraction to what is virtuous and their failure to wed themselves to it.

I watched. I love the BBC adaptations, although doesn't compare with the book.

We maybe now read Austen's works as gentle comedy of manners. But she wrote of events that were scandalous at the time.

I’d forgotten how weird The Piano was ! I always think back to listening to my daughter playing the theme tune on the piano. Switched to Emma which was delightful.

I was going to start on Emma but The Piano is on BBC4 and I haven’t watched it for years. I must admit to liking the latest film adaptation of Emma ( which I didn’t want to watch when it first came out) because I adore Johnny Flynn, both as an actor and a musician ( and as a jolly nice person, too…).

Yes I have that circled to watch over the weekend . Thanks for the nudge 😘