Books on television

There are quite a few books being adapted on television at the moment and  I’m very excited as although the book is always better, it’s interesting to see how the books translate and how they are adapted on screen.

I don’t know about you but I’m always wondering if what I’ve imagined in my head when reading the books is going to be anything like what I see on television. Often they’r enot (the Horse Whisperer) but then that’s the fun of watching them. Sometimes the television or film version is a whole other story (Gone Girl) and a whole other world (The English Patient)

The Books on the screen at the moment are The Night Manager by John Le Carre, Grantchester by James Runcie and Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope.

The big telly trio:

Grantchester

Set in Grantchester near Cambridge, I have to say that the television version really does justice to the books in my opinion. The setting, mood,atmosphere and all around detail in the programme really makes the book shine even more. I was worried thatSidney Chamber’s world would be less cosy and more dramatized that it is in fiction but no, the academic architecture, sense of community, the vicar that knows too much etc and his partnership with the policeman Geordie really is fun to watch.

Doctor Thorne

I read this at school and always wondered why it never seemed as popular as other ‘classics’. It’s a story which really examines the need to marry for money and the shame that an illegitimate birth can result in. I had visualised the setting and the houses which seemed so grand and sumptuous that I was really pleased to see where it was filmed! I so want to go there now to see the novel’s settings for real as I’ve always hoped that Barchester was a real place.

The Night Manager

This is a huge hit at the moment and a great way to get the book out there to more people. Not that the scenes of the half naked man on the beach are doing any harm, but on a more serious note, the lush locations and the kinds of places probably most of us would never get to go to for real, this thriller reads and feels like a travelogue to the most dangerous and stunning parts of the world.

Which programme is your favourite and which literary transformation really just didn’t do it for you?

 
Clare Booktrailer