Steven Knight, Tom Hardy, and Ridley Scott have signed on with BBC One to produce adaptations of several Dickens novels for television. First up is a three-part version of A Christmas Carol -- but we'll all have to be patient, as it's not set to air until Christmas 2019. There's no word yet on what other novels are being adapted for this project, and we also don't know whether Hardy will appear onscreen in any of them. Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, and Bleeding Cool have the details.
Which novels are you hoping to see adapted as part of this series?
This is the best news I've heard in quite some time!
But why a THREE-part version of A Christmas Carol? Why not FOUR parts? One for each Ghost! Or why not FIVE parts? Just like the book had!
Am I getting too greedy? Maybe I'd better read the story again and try to learn something from it this time. Yeah.
So anyway...I'd really like to see a new adaptation of Dombey and Son. It's always seemed (to me at least) to be Dickens' most overlooked and underrated novel. So many great characters! I especially love Mr. Toots and Susan Nipper.
Also, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, even in it's unfinished state, is perpetually among the top five on my ever-fluctuating list of favorite Dickens works. I always enjoy seeing a new solution to the mystery - a new prognostication on the fate of Edwin. SPOILER ALERT!!! He's alive.
Gina: [shaking her head] "I HAD to ask."
Posted by: Jerry | November 28, 2017 at 04:04 PM
It's not my favorite, but I'd like to see an adaptation of Dombey and Son because it's not very famous.
Posted by: Cody | November 28, 2017 at 05:17 PM
No, it's not my favorite either (or anyone else's that I know of), and yet it sold well and was popular in it's day. Very strange.
I always get excited whenever a new adaptation of any Dickens work is announced, but the truth is, I'll never be satisfied until all his novels are made into BBC serials. Perhaps encompassing four or five chapters per installment. That would fit most of them very neatly into a thirteen week television season!
Wow! I guess I really am greedy. :-)
Posted by: Jerry | November 29, 2017 at 06:37 AM
I know one person who calls Dombey her favorite: my cousin Annie! I know she'd vote with you guys! :-) It would be a good choice -- the last adaptation was very good, but it was in 1983. Have you guys seen it? Lysette Anthony is fantastic -- she does more with Florence than you would believe could be done.
But my own pick would be Hard Times. It's one of my top five and we really need a new adaptation of it! It might be nice to have a new Our Mutual Friend, too. The last one was pretty iconic, but it still had areas that could be improved. (They could start by making Jenny her actual age . . . )
Of course, I do desperately want one of those constantly mentioned A Tale of Two Cities adaptations to come to fruition, but since the focus of this series is said to be the lives of the British working class, I don't know if it will make the cut. But we need a new one of those too. Since the most recent one we've heard about was a project of The Weinstein Company, I am not sanguine about its chances. Someone else may need to get the ball rolling now.
Posted by: Gina | November 29, 2017 at 11:00 AM
Jenny was a huge disappointment for me as well in that 1998 rendition of Our Mutual Friend. The actresses' (Katy Murphy) performance was fine, but she was horribly miscast. As you said, she was far too old to play the part. And where was the "Golden Bower" of hair? Not to mention her rapier wit. Other than that though, I have to say it is one of my all-time favorite Dickens' adaptations. I only wish (of course) that it could have been maybe just a little bit longer.
Posted by: Jerry | November 29, 2017 at 11:44 AM