Doctor Thorne

A new TV adaptation on British TV next week of Doctor Thorne Scripted by Julian Fellowes of 'Downton' fame it is on ITV rather than the BBC one might expect. Perhaps it will be picked up by PBS and other TV stations. Fellowes name is quite gold plated these days.

Whatever happened to that Davies guy (Andrew Davies?) who used to do all the BBC adaptations? Did he do the 1980s Barchester series with Alan Rickman as Mr. Slope with his awful smile? First time I ever saw Rickman in anything, and kept thinking what a great Malvolio he would make. Alas, now I'll never know.

>2 nohrt4me2: The 1980s Barchester series was written by a proper playwright, Alan Plater. And The Pallisers by an actual certified genuine novelist, Simon Raven. Those were the days...

>3 thorold: Thanks! Pallisers BBC was great. We binge-watched that last Christmas. Really enjoyed it; wasn't constantly thinking, "The books were so much better," even though the Lady Glencora in my head had a bit more sting than Susan Hampshire gave her.

Davies did He Knew He Was Right and The Way We Live Now. I haven't read either of those novels, so don't know how they stack up with the dramatizations.

>4 nohrt4me2: The TV version of The way we live now first introduced me to Anthony Trollope. I read the book after watching the series and I thought it was well done. David Suchet was amazing as Melmotte. Looking at the cast list for Doctor Thorne I'm not expecting much, some of them look a bit too young for their parts. I'll probably risk an eye, though.

The Guardian describes it as a "Carnival of Cleavage "
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/06/doctor-thorne-recap-episode-...

I love their putdowns.

Well I have now watched this three part dramatisation of Doctor Thorne and read this somewhat facetious 'Guardian' review. I was not impressed by the reviewer having to admit never having read the novel- so much for informed comment.
That said a running time of approximately 2.5 hours does not do justice to Trollope's book and quite a bit is left out and changed. Without wanting to give too much away to those who may not have read it, I think that I can safely say that some of the complexities of inheritance which Trollope deals with in detail are missing. Some excellent actors though; Rebecca Front as Lady Arabella is pitch perfect although the production chickened out with Miss Dunstable, much younger and prettier than I remembered her. I quite enjoyed it but it felt rushed and a bit superficial.
The big problem for any adaptor these days is the limitation of time. I wonder how Andrew Davies reacted when first told that he had a mere 6 hours or so to condense the whole of War and Peace
Oh for the days when a classic text was treated with respect. The recent death of Alan Rickman reminded me of the excellent BBC adaptation of The Barchester Chronicles back in the day.

>2 nohrt4me2: In addition to War and Peace, Andrew Davies has recently done:

South Riding, 2011
Mr. Selfridge, 2014
House of Cards, 2016