Sebastian Faulks on Fiction - coming on TV

Dwight

Don't know if anyone has brought this up, but it was in Sunday's paper:

"Is it easier to watch television on fiction, rather than reading some? BBC2 and BBC4 are banking on that with a whole literary season, the highlight of which will be Sebastian Faulks's series exploring the core characters (romantic hero and so on)." (Looks like it starts in February.)

Looks like the sort of exploration of fiction writing which television has been fiercely lacking over the years.

dorothyd

have to keep a watch on that, Iplayer of course, when it starts. Could be interesting, if done well.

Carol

Not too keen on him but I can overlook that for the subject matter. :)

Betsie

I'm currently ploughing through his big fat novel called 'Human Traces'

Carol

Starts Saturday night on BBC2 at 9pm.

Carol

First part tonight- did anyone watch it?
I enjoyed it, although I did wonder about his pink shirt- no matter which country he was in he was seemed to be wearing the same bl**dy shirt...;)

Dwight

[quote=Carol]no matter which country he was in [/quote]

Perhaps it's all done with mirrors, Carol, and was filmed all in one take in studio 3b.

Nefertari

I enjoyed it, even with the shirt.

Betsie

I quite liked the shirt - yeah, good programme

red-lucy

Just watched it on I-Player and I found it fascinating. Not the biggest fan of Faulkes but this was interesting, especially the interviews. The pink shirt was obviously just a continuity device and not really worthy of any comment. I'll look forward to the next one.

Woll22

It is in a way similar to the Big Read they had at the beginning of this century I think. Does anyone remember that when certain novels were given an indepth exploration and dramatised while the person in the background spoke, at least intermittently, bringing out the high points. I thought it was rather good and I am sure these sort of programmes encourage people to take up reading. However regarding the library situation, we are going to be very seriously challenged as this government seems to make the entire nation semi illiterate by closing them down. How they are going to use volunteers for what is in fact a specialized career, is beyond my comprehension as most of these people have trained in librarianship. I think if you put this government in a Brazilian rain forest, it would be slash and burn all the way. My mother is convinced that each weekend, they think up daft things to do. Roll on the referendum is all I can say!

Carol

Woll it is NOT the government closing down the libraries it is the local authorities- of all parties.

I did enjoy the programme and it reminded me of some of the great characters I'd discovered in books I'd read.
Jim Dixon in Lucky Jim, I read this in English Literature at college and had forgetten how good it was.

SilentTony

[quote=Carol]Woll it is NOT the government closing down the libraries it is the local authorities- of all parties.[/quote]

Because they are being forced to by massive local council budget cuts the Tories are imposing on them. The Tories wrongly thought they would come out of this clean because people would blame their councils. Maybe if the government hadn't let Vodaphone off with paying the £6 billion in taxes they owed none of this would need to happen.

Carol

ST I don't want this thread to become a political argument so I'm not going to get into a debate with you. You and I hold diverse views and only occasionally will we agree.
So let's keep this thread to the subject Faulks on Fiction.

SilentTony

Fair point and I wasn't going to mention anything else on the subject as no other comment is needed. But the point was raised and I didn't want the inaccuracy being glossed over as it is pertinent to the thread and points raised both inside it and globally around the concerns over the future of books.

flyingtart

I watched about five minutes of this last night - episode 2, that is. I didn't see the first one but heard the fuss about Martin Amis's brain damage comments so I was curious. Anyway last night's episode was about lovers and predictably the bit I saw was all about Tess of the d'Urbervilles - was she or wasn't she raped - and Lady Chatterley's Lover - clips of Sean Bean having it away in the woods. In between Mr Faulks strides the countryside like a colossus telling us What It All Means. Couldn't stand it in the end.

Carol

I missed part 2 so I'll have to catch up on it.

Nefertari

I enjoyed it but then I love Sean Bean :)

Carol

I've watched the first 30 minutes and I'm going to have to watch the rest at another time- half an hour of Faulks is enough...

B Darter

He still had the same shirt on last night! Seriously, I thought it was a better programme than last week.

Carol

I was fed up with the lingering shots of Faulks though.
Do you think he has a wardrobe full of shirts that are all the same colour? ;)

Rosalie

I thought it was better than last week's but didn't like his analysis of Wuthering Heights (and I did it for O level so I should know :) ).

Bit too much of Mr Darcy, too, for my liking (though, thank heaven, not the wet shirt...)

Dwight

[quote=Carol]I missed part 2 so I'll have to catch up on it. [/quote]

How do you do that, Carol? I missed it too.

SilentTony

Try here Dwight-


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00yskd8/Faulks_on_Fiction_The_Lover/

Dwight

Fantastic, Tony. Do I get the full programme - when I've got time, that is?

SilentTony

Yes that's the full programme, exactly as went out. It stays up too so you have plenty of time to watch. Or you can download it to watch on another device if you wanted.

Carol

I got half way through today so will watch the rest later in the week.
When there is a series like this the previous episodes can usually still be seen as long as the series hasn't finished.
So anyone who missed part 1 should be able to see that too.

Dwight

Cheers, folks. I'll try to view it tomorrow.