From Screen to Page #2

I'm back today with another instalment of From Screen to Page! You can find the first post in this little series here.

In my experience, dramas with the BBC can be a bit of a hit or miss. The Tudors? Yes. The White Queen? No. The Crimson Field? Yes. Birdsong? No. You get the drift.

Thankfully, if you're into period or historical dramas, whether they're original scripts or an adaptation of a book, the BBC is one of the best places to turn to. I've lost count of the amount of books they've adapted at this point. This year alone they've adapted Poldark, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Partners in Crime, Lady Chatterley's Lover, The Go-Between, An Inspector Calls and Cider with Rosie, and will soon be broadcasting The Last Kingdom, an eight-part adaptation of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories, and an adaptation of War and Peace this winter.

They're well-known for their 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and their 2008 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, and let's not forget their incredibly popular 2006 adaptation of Jane Eyre. On top of that there's all their original drama, like The Scandalous Lady W.

Basically, the BBC are no stranger to a period drama. In 2011, BBC Films produced The Awakening, an original British drama and ghost story. I love ghost stories, particularly haunted house stories, so I knew I was going to watch this. I didn't watch it straight away, I'll admit; I'm a bit of a wuss and, even though I love ghost stories, they do still give me the heebie jeebies, but then one summer it happened to be showing on the BBC, so I decided to sit down and watch it. And I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The film is set in 1921 and follows Florence Cathcart, an author whose fiancé was killed during the First World War and who now works with the police to expose supernatural hoaxes. She is visited by a teacher, Robert Mallory, who works at a boy's boarding school in Cumbria where a child has recently died. Everyone at the school believes that the building is haunted and that this haunting may have had something to do with the recent death, so Florence is hired to investigate.

If you haven't seen this film, I recommend checking it out. Perhaps I'm biased but I really enjoy British films and dramas, particularly ghost stories like this one, and it's an ideal watch for this time of year! I recommend curling up with a blanket and a hot chocolate. If you have seen this film and you'd like to experience more stories like this one, then there's a book you simply have to read.

The Little Stranger was first published in 2009 and is Sarah Waters' fifth novel. Sarah Waters is one of my favourite authors; she writes historical fiction set in the 19th and 20th centuries, and The Little Stranger is the only one of her six novels that doesn't have a queer female protagonist. Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith, The Night Watch and The Paying Guests all have LGBT* characters in the leading role.

You can check out my review of The Little Stranger here!

While The Awakening is a post-WW1 story, The Little Stranger is a post-WW2 story. Our protagonist is the middle-aged Dr Faraday, who finds himself becoming increasingly involved with Hundreds Hall, an old Edwardian house that is crumbling into ruin, and what remains of the aristocratic family who live there: the Ayreses.

Hundreds Hall is an eerie building, and the servants are convinced its haunted. What's wonderful about this story, though, is that it teases you - is there really a ghost, or are the Ayres family simply the unfortunate victims of mental illness and coincidence?

I adore this book. It's one of the best books I've read this year - I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I put it down - and if you enjoy atmospheric, 20th century ghost stories like The Awakening or The Others you simply have to check this one out. It'll creep under your skin and take root there, and with Halloween on the way could you really ask for anything more than that?

Book vs. Adaptation | Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

This is sort of a new feature I'd like to start on my blog - though I'm not sure how regular it'll be! - where I talk about a book adaptation. I love book adaptations, I love watching interviews with directors and producers and costume designers and actors and finding out how a particular adaptation has been put together, and why it is the way it is. Why were those actors chosen? Why do the costumes look like that? Why did the director choose to include those scenes and not others?

Last month I finally finished, and loved, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, and a few days later I decided to watch the 2005 BBC adaptation starring Sally Hawkins and Elaine Cassidy.

If you want to hear my thoughts on the book, you can check out my review here!

The adaptation is around 3 hours long, and was originally aired in two 90 minute episodes. 

What struck me most about this adaptation is that it was cast very well. Sally Hawkins is something of a period drama veteran - she portrayed Anne Elliot in the 2007 adaptation of Persuasion and Mrs. Reed in the 2011 adaptation of Jane Eyre - so I was sure her portrayal of Sue would be perfect, but it was Elaine Cassidy who really blew me away. I wasn't sure what to expect from her, but I thought her portrayal of Maud was perfect.

The costumes and colour tones throughout gave it a very period drama feel, which I loved. It almost felt like I could be watching an adaptation of an Elizabeth Gaskell novel, not a novel written in the 21st century.

It has to be said that the adaptation wasn't as good as the book, in fact I was a little disappointed with it. This could partly be because I was so looking forward to watching it once I'd finished the book - let's face it, hype never makes adaptations better, does it? - but the adaptation was lacking something that I could never quite put my finger on. 

If you're interested in this story, I can't stress enough how vital it is that you read the book before you watch the adaptation because the book will blow you away in ways I don't think the adaptation ever could. It certainly gave it its best shot - it's not a bad adaptation - and perhaps if I hadn't read the book I would have found it more dramatic than it felt, but for the most part the adaptation felt a little subdued. The book isn't exactly a loud book, if that makes any sense, but it's certainly lively and there's no doubting Waters' skill as a storyteller. If you find yourself watching it, look out for Waters' brief cameo!

So Fingersmith isn't a bad adaptation, and I'm sure I'll watch it again, but I definitely recommend reading the book before you do anything else. I'm not sure if I would have understood certain parts of the adaptation if I hadn't already read the book, and it's a fantastic read.

Period/Historical Drama Recommendations!

It probably comes as no surprise that, considering I love historical fiction so much, I'm partial to a good old historical/period drama show, too. If you're in the mood for one such show, here are some of my recommendations!

Okay, now before those of you who love your historical accuracy flee in disgust, please hear me out! Like you I had no interest in watching The Tudors when it first came out. I love my Tudor history, but pretty much every adaptation of their lives (aside from the Elizabeth films starring the stunning Cate Blanchett) have been a huge disappointment. I turned on an episode of The Tudors when it was on TV and was immediately met with a sex scene in the woods, between who I would later discover were Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. I decided then and there that I wasn't interested in watching a show that was just about bodice-ripping and hanky panky and turned it back off. Then one of my friends introduced it to me in university and convinced me to give it another try, and I'm so glad I did - now it's one of my favourite shows!

Now I'm not going to sit here and say that this is the most historically accurate show on TV - although in its defense it put a lot more effort into being historically accurate than most other Tudor adaptations I've seen! - but what The Tudors has done that I appreciate and adore is humanise Henry VIII and all six of his wives. All of his wives, from Katherine of Aragon to Catherine Parr, are given likable and dislikable qualities, and I love all of them, grow frustrated with all of them, for completely different reasons. The Tudors is one of the few shows I've watched that has made an effort to remind its audience that Henry and his wives were real people and not just portraits.

Yes there's a lot of hanky panky - but unlike shows like Game of Thrones all of the sex scenes, apart from one which isn't graphic and is included because it is an event that is believed to have happened, are consensual - and there are a lot of pretty dresses and shaven legs and gorgeous men, but I don't care! I really like this show, and I recommend it to any history lover out there who's been hesitant to give it a try!

I discovered The Bletchley Circle fairly recently, in fact I'm still in the middle of watching it, but as soon as I realised it was a show about a group of women who broke codes during the war and were now using their skills to fight crime and the patriarchy I knew I had to watch it. Then, luckily for me, it was showing on TV again!

The first series follows Susan Gray, a code breaker during the War, who is certain there is a pattern to the killings and that she can use it to catch the killer, if only the police and her husband would listen to her. Frustrated, she contacts three women with whom she worked at Bletchley Park, and the four of them work together to solve the murders.

It's so good. Just watch it.

If I say to you: Richard Armitage. Richard Armitage in 19th century clothes. Richard Armitage in a top hat. Surely that's all I need to say to get you to watch the BBC's adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South?

This show was introduced to me by the same friend who introduced me to The Tudors, so we can blame her for me wanting to marry Richard Armitage. North and South is a very simple story, and yet it's enthralling; it follows Margaret Hale who must move from the South of England to the North when her father decides to leave the clergy and takes up a position as a teacher. The cold, dark, industrial North is very different to the idyllic South that Margaret is accustomed to, and she can't stand John Thornton, the owner of a cotton mill and one of her father's pupils.

When the workers begin to strike Thornton shows his true colours as a man who wants what's best for his family and those who work for him, and Margaret begins to see him in a different light.

At its heart North and South is a love story, but even if love stories aren't to your taste I still recommend this little serial - it's gorgeous!

Earlier this year the BBC brought another brilliant drama to our TV screens in the form of The Crimson Field, a show which follows the lives of four voluntary nurses, and the rest of the military hospital, during The First World War.

Each of the six episodes of the series explores a number of themes, from the early treatment of shellshock to the punishment of deserters, and they do so in a respectful, touching way. Sadly the BBC has chosen not to renew the series which is incredibly frustrating, not only because it is a fantastic show that deserves screen time, but also because there are many questions that have been left unanswered.

That being said the first series doesn't end on a huge question mark, so even though the show has been discontinued the first series is still worth a watch!

The Borgias is much more similar to The Tudors - it's raunchier and more violent, and oddly addictive. When I first watched the show it took me a couple of episodes to get into it - the first episode in particular I think is a little boring; when I first watched it I was convinced I wasn't going to like the show - but by episode three I was hooked, and I marathoned the rest of the first series in the space of a few days.

What really gives this show its wow factor is the cast; I love Jeremy Irons, and he's a brilliant Roderigo, but the two actors who really sell the show to me are Holliday Grainger and François Arnaud, who play Lucrezia and Cesare respectively. Their scenes together are mesmerising, and I definitely recommend checking this show out if you haven't already!

What have you been watching recently?

Spring TV Wrap-Up!

Today I'm going to do something a little different and talk about some of the shows I've been watching recently. I don't consider myself a TV buff at all - I tend to read more books than watch shows, and I'm envious of people who can dedicate their time to so many different shows and keep on top of all the characters and plotlines.

What I tend to do when it comes to TV is wait until a series is finished - either entirely, so that I have a few/several seasons to watch, or just the first season so I can get a taste for it and see what I think - and then watch it, rather than watch it as soon as it comes out. I'm lazy when it comes to TV, and it's really easy for me to grow disinterested; a show has to be really good to keep me waiting for a new installment each week, so I prefer being able to marathon an entire season over the course of a few days.

So far this spring I've finished four shows: Channel 4's New Worlds; BBC's The Crimson Field; Hannibal Season Two and Orphan Black Season One.

Let's get the worst over with first, shall we?

I decided to watch New Worlds after I saw a trailer for it advertised at my campus cinema and realised it would be on TV when I went home for Easter in April. From the trailer it looked like it was going to be pretty epic.

As you might have guessed from my love of historical fiction, one of my favourite things to watch on TV is a good historical drama, and I particularly love anything set in the 16th or 17th centuries. New Worlds is set during the reign of Charles II and takes place both in England, where the English are growing tired of Charles's tyranny, and across the ocean in Massachusetts, where the colonisers are trying to break away from English rule while also fighting against the Natives for their land.

What I thought was going to be the first season of a long series turned out to be a Mills and Boon-esque four part mini-series, with terrible character development and a plot which fell flat despite having so much potential. This show was a real disappointment and I really wouldn't recommend checking it out.

Thankfully I had three other shows over Easter to keep me going: Hannibal, The Crimson Field and Game of Thrones - I won't be talking about Game of Thrones here because season four hasn't finished yet!

Luckily for me where Channel 4 failed the BBC stepped up. This year marks one hundred years since the start of WW1, so over Easter the BBC broadcast a six-part drama, The Crimson Field, which follows a group of women who travel to France to work as volunteer nurses.

I really enjoyed this show, so much so that I'm hoping there's going to be more of it in future! Despite only being six episodes long, it used those episodes wisely to include as many stories - from the early management of shell shock to the punishment of deserters - and as much character development as possible without making the show feel crowded. 

I'd definitely recommend it, whether you're a fan of historical dramas or not!

Last week saw the finale of the second season of Hannibal; a show that has become one of my all time favourite dramas on television since its premier last year. Following the first season's amazing finale, the second season follows Will Graham's pursuit for justice by any means necessary - even if that means teaming up with the very man who incriminated him in the first place...

My love for this show knows no bounds. Not only is it a brilliant reimagining of Thomas Harris's stories, with both male and female three-dimensional characters, it's also visually stunning. Even if you've never read the books or seen the films, everyone is aware of Hannibal Lecter, and despite the fact that the show deals with something as brutal as murder and cannibalism it's still a piece of art in its own right.

The end of the second season was just as shocking as the end of the first, and I can't wait for season three! If you haven't checked this show out then I highly, highly recommend it, though the second season in particular might not be an enjoyable watch for the squeamish.

Hannibal came to an end the same weekend in which there wasn't a new Game of Thrones episode, so to stop myself from pining too much I decided to pick up where I left off when I started watching Orphan Black some time last year.

I watched the first two episodes of the first season last year, and even though I liked what I watched I didn't love it enough to continue watching it. The past couple of weeks, however, I've been seeing it all over Tumblr, so I decided to give it a try and I ended up marathoning the rest of the first season - from episode three to episode ten - in the space of about three days!

The show follows Sarah Manning, a con artist whose life is turned upside down after she witnesses the suicide of a woman who looks exactly like her.

I enjoyed this show so much more the second time around; Tatiana Maslany is an amazing actress and I loved the story. I'm a big fan of stories which feature any form of science vs. religion, and as someone who's just starting to get into sci-fi this show was perfect for me. I'm not quite ready for alien races and spaceships, but a sci-fi thriller I can handle.

One day I'll be ready for space. One day.

I haven't started watching the second season of Orphan Black yet but I will be soon, and I'm hoping to continue watching American Horror Story: Coven, another show I watched the first two episodes of and have enjoyed so far. I'm rather picky when it comes to shows involving witches, somehow they always end up cheesier than I'd like, but so far AHS isn't shying away from the darker side of witchcraft, and I love that.

As far as other shows go I'm also planning on sating my lust for historical dramas by finally watching Vikings and Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Ever since I went to see Pompeii a couple of weeks ago I've been craving something else gladiatorial and I've heard great things about Spartacus - I love a good rebellion story.

I'll be back with another TV wrap-up in the summer!

What have you been watching recently?