What TV series or film would you make if you had the wherewithall?

[User16390]

I would love to see a film of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and an English version of The Good Soldier Svejk.

 

[smutchin]

If it were me, I'd televise George Gissing's The Netherworld, which is like East Enders in the 1890s, only I'm worried the acid attack might give people ideas.

I'd watch that. As long as you didn't make it too much like EastEnders - the book has so much more depth to it, not to mention a biting satirical edge.

 

[Profpointy]

Blake's 7 needs to be remade - with a special effects budget of more than £7 per episode too.

I'm not sure special effects budget was what was missing from B7. Terrible scripts and ham acting was the real issue.

 

[smutchin]

[QUOTE 4927504, member: 259"]No trubba, but it'd always be a disappointment. How can you put that language across?[/QUOTE]

A lot would depend on who wrote the screenplay. Tom Stoppard did a great job on Parade's End, which I would have thought was similarly unfilmable, so I'd rope him in for the job. You'd have to approach it from a different angle and exploit the strengths of TV as a visual medium rather than trying to directly translate the book's mesmerising wordplay onto the screen.

I recently read Station Eleven, which is a much more conventional kind of dystopian apocalypse survival story and would be very filmable - in fact, I'd be surprised if it weren't already being given the Hollywood treatment.
(ETA: of course it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_Eleven#Film_adaptation )

 

[Ian H]

The Archers remade as a Simpsons-style animated full-length feature film. Meryl Streep could voice all the female parts (except that Geordie woman of course).

Or the other way around.

What? With Streep doing just the Geordie woman?

 

[stephec]

View attachment 369514

Accy & Drago

What about these two?

 

[stephec]

Then you'd get all the famous actresses desperate to be cast as my love interest.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I'd make a film of Smiley's People with Gary Oldman as the lead - it would be the follow-up to the recent Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy film. I'm a huge Le Carre fan......surely it's also time for a remake of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

I dunno. I thought the film of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was a bit disappointing, although it would have been difficult for it to live up to the hype. Unless you knew the story it was a bit confusing. The TV series was better and you had to concentrate watching that.

 

[Yellow Fang]

How many hours and minutes did each take to tell the story?

Don't know, I didn't time it. I suppose I could look it up.

 

[postman]

Tv series Goodnight Sweetheart.I thought the 'special' was very clever.I think it had more to come.But no doubt some new controller thought otherwise.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Seven episodes of 45 minutes each versus 120 or so. It meant that the film version had to work harder to fit it all in.

So maybe it's a story that works better as a TV series than a film. There were some good things about the film. It didn't have Hywel Bennet's dodgy Australian accent for one.

 

[Tim Hall]

I would love to see a film of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and an English version of The Good Soldier Svejk.

There have been excellent radio versions of both of these.

 

[Reynard]

I'd turn some of the Miles Vorkosigan books into feature films - they're a brilliant mix of classic space opera and cutting commentary on the human condition. Would have to have John Vickery as Aral Vorkosigan and Gates McFadden as Cordelia.

Would also love to do a reboot of Babylon 5 or maybe even turn the fanfic I'm writing on the Minbari civil war into a mini series.

 

[mustang1]

A TV series about hypocrisy and revenge.

 

[mustang1]

I don't have the money , drive or talent so I will pass on it.

Didn't you watch Fast and Furious?