SirOllyBolly

Dear God! You can just imagine being at the meeting which thought that one up.

"What’s been the plebs favourites recently?"

"Urmmm... Life on Mars was popular. 70's retro, male chauvanism etc. Quite original actually."

"Yes! Time travel but with a new twist. I like it! It sings! But how can we at ITV twist it better, mmm? Make it more original than the original?"

"Urrm – have about… travelling FURTHER BACK in time – say, the Tudor period.”

“Nah, the BBC are raping the Tudor period at the moment”

“Oh! Oh! What does everyone love? Costume Drama! So how about… Jane Austen, eh? Jane Austen, but projected into the modern day?”

“I like it! It’s fresh, it’s a new twist on an old reliable favourite. Everyone loves Jane Austen - it’s a winner!”

“How about Jane Austen lost in time but STRICTLY ON ICE? Eh? Appeals to all the demographics there?”

“Brilliant! The strap line will be “You could be Jane!” On ICE! Plebs could vote off the person least likely to write a best selling romantic novel whilst skating! And we’d be quids in!”

“Yes! It’s up my flagpole and fluttering! Is Phillip Schofield free? Email him. Great new show Phil, Saturday night winner!. Call me.”

"Wait! do we need a vote? Can't Jane Austen just 'appear' in the 21st centuary?"

"How does that work? Where's the reveue? People are used to phoning into ITV programmes...?"


etc etc

SirOllyBolly

"What fresh lunacy is this?"

earlb

Brilliant Olly- I'm sure you attend these meetings because it's so lifelike. You'd make an excellent script writer.

I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

lupinpooter

MB

I agree - and I hear it is terrible..all over the place.

It's miserable when they are entirely ratings led isn't it. What they don't seem to have picked up on is that the most successful dramas of the last ten years may well have looked very risky on paper (Life on mars, in particular.)

It's the innovation that is inspiring people.
Ach, they should give us all jobs.

EHV_Emmetts

"Lost in Austen" (2008)



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Lord Brett

Haven't seen the first episode yet, as we were out last night to see the new Hellboy movie, but I set the video for it.

It felt so strange recording something (or even watching anything other then the news) on ITV. It must have been months, which tells its own story about why the network is in trouble - there's never anything good on!

MB

This is what my son would call: TLTR (Too long to read) But I needed a rant!

In the interests of research, I watched this last night and discussed it with a friend this morning.

In the end, we decided it was down to ‘respect’ and how ‘postmodern’ you are..

You know, from the outset, that they are going to take massive liberties with the works of Ms Austen. So, you’ve accepted that – but, for me, there are ways and means..

‘Massive liberties’ here, includes, changing the characterisation (Mrs Bennet is transformed from a rather silly, social climbing but concerned mother to a rather nasty piece of work in this..) whole segments of dialogue (popping a bit of modern speech in to an actual Jane Austen line or changing it’s meaning) and the storyline (played with, but, at least, making this clear.)

Plus, in order for the modern-day ‘Bridget Jones’ aspect of the storyline to work they have to take the approach that the most cherished book written by what is considered to be one of the finest female writers in the UK – ever – as, chiefly, a sort of ‘Mills and Boon’ tale ….leaving out the lengthy parts that are purely about friendship and sisterhood and class propriety..

(They even popped in a cheeky reference to the suggestion by a few attention seeking academics that Austen may have had a lesbian relationship with her sister and written a few references to this in her books. Although the vast majority of Austen critics think this is utter nonsense.)

I’m not a huge fan of Jane Austen. The books are readable enough, but, they didn’t offer any solutions to the predicament these women found themselves in – merely reflected it and were quite bitchy really about the poor cows who had no other option than to find a decent husband. It is our modern day interpretation to give it a feminist reading. Plus, the Napoleonic wars were going on during the time she was writing and she mentions it barely a jot – not the men who were being killed and brought home injured…apparently, she was asked once about it and answered ‘Yes, isn’t it terrible that so many people are dying and isn’t it wonderful that we don’t have to know any of them’. And that was it – and yet she is classed as being a searing satirist of the life and times. Basically, a very narrow world view and, although it was shocking the way these women were treated, it was nothing compared to the poverty and genuine hardship experienced by the majority.

Anyway, in this series, the ‘Bridget Jones’ lead character is hankering after the lifestyle and manners of this age. Already, I suspect that the conclusion – like ‘Life on Mars’ – will be that ‘although things have improved – we have lost a few things as well..’ Which was perfect for ‘Life on Mars’ because it wasn’t obvious from the outset and was something we needed to think about – now. If you cannot figure that out about the early nineteenth century - then watching this will not help you…

But, whereas I loved ‘Life on Mars’ and ‘Ashes to Ashes’ (every bit, even the wonky bits) I can only look at this and wonder if it will go down in history as the worst thing the modern ITV has ever come up with and for that, it is a spectacle in itself!

Famous, quite well respected actors keep popping up in this (Hugh Bonneville, Alex Kingston.) I’m not sure how they drugged them to do it or whether they spent last night watching it through their fingers crying. But, if I was in it, I would have been. Even for a ‘bit of a lark’ it is surely insulting to tear apart someone else’s work and thrust, entirely, your own agenda on it. I can’t understand why literary critics can be taken for task for taking liberties with or foisting their own ideas on a literary text and yet scriptwriters for ITV – it’s no problem…

I know it’s been done ‘for fun’ quite a lot with Charles Dickens etc..but again, it is how it is done and who by and so far, this is tacky and ‘disrespectful’ and they would say in my former neighbourhood.

I think they should, at least, be required to keep the lines intact and the characterisation true to the writer’s intentions. She laboured over every word and idea - spent months rewriting until she felt she had perfected it…would not let anybody see it until she felt it ‘worked’. What right has someone got to come in and tear it apart? Also, if you are ‘intending to bring it to a new audience’ – you may end up misleading them entirely…Even if it is meant to be humorous – there are ways and means.

lupinpooter

I didn't watch this, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading your "rant" to the point that I wish I had seen it so that I might join in

My question is: why on earth weren't you watching the superb "God on Trial" on the other side?!

MB

Because, every week I mean to sit down and carefully choose the programmes I am going to watch, mark them with my Sky plus doodahs and arrange proper times to sit down and watch them.

But, my world is a turmultous hotbed of deranged kittens, screaming seven year olds, exes that need counselling, friends with mad boyfriends and hormones.

I wonder if it is going to be on again? (I say that a lot.)

lupinpooter

I reckon it'll be on iPlayer (mind you, I'm not keen on watching TV on the computer) but it might be repeated. Well worth seeing

narabdela

Lol. Not if it was on ITV.

lupinpooter

It was on BBC2

Dai Bando

Would be great if it happened in real life, we must all have our favourites we would like to be part of for me it would be widows. Imagine finding Shirleys mum in my bathroom and a door in the airing cupboard leads to the lock up.
" Who the bleeding hell are you" says Dolly
"I'm here to give Harry Rawlings a good hiding" smerks Dai Bando
"Harrys dead"cries Dolly
" I'm afraid not, he's alive and well and living with Jimmy Nunns bitch, so go home cut up his clothes, burn the ledgers, put the dog in the kennels and get the next plane to Rio. Word of warning don't leave Linda on her own at the villa, don't try and pay him off and don't let Shirley do any modelling." warns Dai Bando

PS68060

I am definately no expert on Jane Austen but I did wonder that they may be taking the approach that the real time of Austen was not how she imagines it be having read the books.

"Oh! Pete!"

DB7

I watched it for the first time tonight (only coz I can catch A Number on iPlayer) and Lost in Austen was actually better than I expected, plenty of charm and ballsy humour, but you can't escape that nagging doubt that it's extremely lazy programming that owes a lot to Life on Mars.