5 TV Shows Based on Books
Many television creators mine literature for new shows. You already know that Game of Thrones is based on a book series by George R. R. Martin, that Sherlock is based on stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, and that there are nearly endless TV ideas that come from mysteries by Agatha Christie. But do you know these?
Decline and Fall
Evelyn Waugh’s 1928 satirical novel Decline and Fall sees theology student Paul Pennyfeather chucked out of Oxford and trapped in a teaching gig in Wales, where the students run the school and the lecturers cope by getting sloshed. The 2017 television adaptation was written by James Wood, the pen behind Rev. (another story about a man who feels he’s called to do God’s work before it all goes wrong). This adaptation of Decline and Fall brilliantly matches the superficial façade of the novel by juxtaposing a corny earnestness (to both the music and the protagonist) against absolute mayhem: drunkenness, gunfire, explosions, you name it.
Although you may recognize Jack Whitehall as the standup comic crowned King of Comedy by the British Comedy Awards no less than three times, you’ll find his portrayal as the straight-man, Pennyfeather, endearing if not overly sincere. The television show is peppered with comedy greats, like Katy Wix and The Actor Kevin Eldon, and provides a vehicle for talented actors to deliver short monologues, including David Suchet (Agatha Christie’s Poirot), Stephen Graham (Secret Agent), Doug Hodge (The Night Manager), the malleable Vincent Franklin (Twenty Twelve), and Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives), who plays Pennyfeather’s student’s (allegedly murderous) mother with whom Pennyfeather has fallen in love. Watch Decline and Fall.
Capital
“We want what you have.” These are the words written on the anonymous postcards sent to the residents of Pepys Road following the revelation that their homes are suddenly worth upwards of a million pounds. The novel Capital, written by John Lanchester and published in 2012, was adapted in 2015 by Peter Bowker. The TV show stars Toby Jones, Gemma Jones, and Lesley Sharp. Like the recent film London Road, which follows different residents of London Road who have wildly varying reactions to a murder, Capital follows different residents of Pepys Road who have wildly varying reactions to the ominous—possibly threatening—postcards. Unlike London Road, Lanchester’s characters are fictional, but his commentary on the 2008 financial crisis in Britain is quite real. Watch Capital.
Cradle to Grave
Danny Baker is a real-life comedy writer and broadcaster, and he even embarked on his first ever standup comedy tour earlier this year. In 2007, he launched a podcast called All Day Breakfast Show, the first episode of which included surprise guest star Peter Kay, who would someday go on to play Baker’s father on the sitcom about Baker’s life, Cradle to Grave (2015). The sitcom, which is an adaptation of his memoir Going to Sea in a Sieve (2012), replays all kinds of shenanigans from Baker’s childhood: lost trousers, drunken dinner parties, LSD, a hand grenade, and police arrests. Peter Kay steals the show as ‘Spud’ Baker, Danny’s mouthy, scheming old man. “My dad is the real hero of the book, not in a sentimental way,” Baker tells Richard Herring in an episode of RHLSTP. “He was a whirlwind. He was explosive. ” Watch Cradle to Grave.
Agatha Raisin
London-based Agatha Raisin never intended to be a detective when she moved to a little village in the Cotswolds, but when her entry to the local quiche competition mysteriously kills one of the judges, this PR guru transforms into a super sleuth and spends the next eight episodes solving murders. Agatha Raisin is not like other detective shows you see on TV. Based on the series of novels by M.C. Beaton, it balances drama and comedy. Horrendous murders are solved by a woman in stiletto heels and brightly colored designer clothes. The actress that plays Agatha, Ashley Jensen, who you may recognize from Ugly Betty or opposite Ricky Gervais in Extras, tells the Daily Express that Agatha is “like a terrier. She’s tenacious, she’s pushy, she’s aggressive sometimes and she doesn’t really care if people like her.” Well, we like you, Miss Raisin. Watch Agatha Raisin.
The Secret Agent
In The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad, Verloc is a secret agent, keeping his secrets from event his wife who may suspect something’s up but chooses to bury her head in the sand. Film critic Roger Ebert dubbed the book “perhaps the least filmable novel [Conrad] ever wrote.” This didn’t stop it from being filmed at least four times. In the 2016 adaptation, Toby Jones steps into the shoes that were once Bob Hoskins’. Jones says in a BBC interview, “I think that the way Charles [McDougall] has directed it, it has the momentum of a contemporary thriller.” Watch The Secret Agent.
Jaime Pond writes about British television and is the editor of Anglonerd.com.