An ode to Andrew Davies
Jul. 20th, 2008 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrI just finished watching the BBC adaptation of Bleak House, and it was great. So I decided to do a brief retrospective on the guy who did the adaptation, Andrew Davies.
Some other great adaptations he has done:
the 1996 Pride and Predjudice
The Way We live Now
Vanity Fair (the miniseries)
Northanger Abbey (the most recent one)
Daniel Deronda
The BBC Emma (a little dull, I must admit, but still much better than the other one)
House of cards and To Play the King (the latter book inspired by his adaption of the former)
Bridget Jones Diary (an adaptation of the book inspired by his adaptation of Pride and Predjudice :))
Also, while I wasn't a huge fan of "Bridget Jones Diary" and "Tipping the Velvet", they are both very engaging and popular and I think my issues lie more with the orignal story than the adaptation. I must admit I didn't like "Circle of Friends" very much though, but even it wasn't bad exactly.
As it turns out, he is also the guy who created and wrote "Educating Marmalade", one of my favourite shows as a kid. Very much not a period drama, more like "Dennis the Menace" only about an english schoolgirl. And, you know, funny. Also "A very peculiar Practice" which I remember thinking at the time seemed cool but too adult for me to understand.
Being a big pinko lefty feminist I like the way he usually (to a greater or lesser extent) gives female and lower class characters more agency and respect than they get in the source, while still getting across the key points of the story.
And, looking him up..he's seventy two! And has three more projects in the pipeline! He's a national treasure, I say :)
Some other great adaptations he has done:
the 1996 Pride and Predjudice
The Way We live Now
Vanity Fair (the miniseries)
Northanger Abbey (the most recent one)
Daniel Deronda
The BBC Emma (a little dull, I must admit, but still much better than the other one)
House of cards and To Play the King (the latter book inspired by his adaption of the former)
Bridget Jones Diary (an adaptation of the book inspired by his adaptation of Pride and Predjudice :))
Also, while I wasn't a huge fan of "Bridget Jones Diary" and "Tipping the Velvet", they are both very engaging and popular and I think my issues lie more with the orignal story than the adaptation. I must admit I didn't like "Circle of Friends" very much though, but even it wasn't bad exactly.
As it turns out, he is also the guy who created and wrote "Educating Marmalade", one of my favourite shows as a kid. Very much not a period drama, more like "Dennis the Menace" only about an english schoolgirl. And, you know, funny. Also "A very peculiar Practice" which I remember thinking at the time seemed cool but too adult for me to understand.
Being a big pinko lefty feminist I like the way he usually (to a greater or lesser extent) gives female and lower class characters more agency and respect than they get in the source, while still getting across the key points of the story.
And, looking him up..he's seventy two! And has three more projects in the pipeline! He's a national treasure, I say :)
