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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 4, No. 31 |
ELIZABETH GEORGE ...on television
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Last week, Ron Miller talked with Elizabeth George about her new best-seller, "A Place of Hiding," and about her work as the acclaimed American author of the long-running Thomas Lynley series of British mysteries. This week they talk about the BBC adaptations of her Thomas Lynley novels on PBS' "Mystery!" series, which began last season with "A Great Deliverance." |
Sell your books to TV
and kiss them goodbye
By RON MILLER
of TheColumnists.com
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When PBS' "Mystery!" series last year scheduled
"A Great Deliverance," the first-ever television version
of an Elizabeth George novel, it made her millions of fans deliriously
happy. Until they actually saw it on the air last summer. For instance, they made the blond-haired Inspector Lynley dark-haired. And they made his moody assistant, Barbara Havers, a lot trimmer than she appears in the books--and not quite as scornful of her boss's exalted station in the English social structure. What's more, they seemed intent on minimizing, if not eliminating, two of George's most vital characters--forensic scientist Simon St. James and his wife, Deborah, who are actually the main characters in George's latest book, "A Place of Hiding." They also cut many story corners to digest her generally thick novels down to fit a 90-minute time slot, in some cases leaving out subplots and characters. In a few cases, serious alterations were made that changed the dynamics of George's original plots. In "Payment in Blood," for instance, womanizing actor Robert Gabriel, who's white, is played by black actor Idris Elba, yet the women he's involved with all remain white, as they were in the book. When I asked Elizabeth George about this at her recent book-signing in Bellingham, WA, she acknowledged the TV adaptations have been a mixed blessing. She's pleased with some aspects of them, but has been upset by others. "I've always been very philosophical about this," she said. "I'm a novelist. I'm not a television person. I hardly ever watch (TV). Well, I watch 'American Idol,' if that tells you anything. I'm interested in writing my novels, not screenplays. I didn't expect my readers to turn on the TV and say, 'Ohmigod! That person looks just like Lynley!' All I wanted was for a show to be good enough that people who hadn't read the books would say, 'Hm, I think I'll pick up that book at the bookstore.' Because of that, I've been able to let a lot of the changes sort of roll off my back." George explained that she waited a long time to sell the rights to her books, despite many offers from film and TV producers. She says she was holding out for an offer from the BBC, which she felt would do the best job. The BBC finally bought the rights to the first nine novels featuring Thomas Lynley--and recently negotiated purchase of two more. "But when you sell your books," George added, "you just have to kiss them goodbye. There isn't any writer who has the power to say to the producers, 'Now, do it my way!'" If PBS were showing the movie versions of her books in chronological order, the first one up this season should have been "Payment in Blood," but it was moved back to second in line after "A Well-Schooled Murder." As a critic, I'm inclined to think PBS used good sense. "Payment in Blood," a well-crafted, old-fashioned mystery novel in almost the traditional "cozy" style, becomes a hopeless muddle on screen.
"I challenge anybody to tell me what that's about," George said, "--and I wrote the book!" George said she found out the race of the Robert Gabriel character had been changed when she visited the set and met the actor playing the part. She says she thought to herself, "That's interesting casting." The producers explained that they aren't allowed to discriminate when casting roles, hence the change of race. George accepted that change graciously, but wasn't quite so complacent when she was reading the script for the adaptation of "In the Presence of the Enemy" (not on this season's lineup) and saw in the stage directions that there had been another race change that she thought was damaging to the story. "I got furious," she admitted. "They didn't tell me about it in advance and they pretended it wasn't about what they had to do politically. I told them I understand why they can't discriminate, but not to tell me that they cast a person of another race because they chose the best possible actress in the world for that particular part!" Elizabeth George isn't the first mystery author to have mixed feelings about the way her books are adapted. P.D. James, whose Adam Dalgliesh novels all were adapted for television, was very unhappy with major changes made in the storyline of "A Mind to Murder" (1995), one of her earlier novels, in order to make it fit in with where Dalgliesh was much later in his career with Scotland Yard. Like George's novels, "A Mind to Murder" also was shoehorned into a one-night format, but many of the earlier James films ran to three hours or longer and were shown over several nights. "In the best of all worlds," they would have taken each of my books and devoted six weeks to it, doing all of the subplots, and turned it into my 'Jewel in the Crown.' But they decided to reduce them down just to the crime." Still, George has been generally pleased with several of the "Inspector Lynley Mysteries" movies. For example, she likes "Well-Schooled in Murder," which starts off the second season of the series on Aug. 31. I agree with her. I might add that I think you'll probably like the TV movies less if you've read the books before seeing them. I haven't yet read "For the Sake of Elena" and "Missing Joseph," the final two movies this summer, but liked those two productions best. As far as casting is concerned, George remains philosophical on that point, too. "None of them look like my vision of the characters," she says, "and they won't look like your vision either because we all picture characters differently." That said, George says she's quite pleased with Sharon Small as Barbara Havers. She had her reservations about Small, who's much more attractive than the book version of Havers, until she saw her play a big emotional scene while she visited the set during the filming of "A Great Deliverance." "As soon as I saw her do the scene, I thought she'd be great," says George. "She's gotten better and better and better. I really mean that. She's fabulous." Privately, Elizabeth George told me the BBC really wants to be able to develop their own stories for Lynley and Havers, moving away from the books. The producers of the "Inspector Morse" series had that sort of deal with author Colin Dexter, adapting many of his novels, but also making about half the Morse episodes from original scripts. "That's what we're now discussing," says George. "What we're negotiating for is to have very strict controls on that." My guess is that she'll make the deal, giving the BBC permission to start making many more episodes than they could do if they had to wait for her to write more Lynley novels. The series is very popular in England, so there's a real motive to have more. "The Inspector Morse series was pretty darned good," George told me, which I took to be a sign she's leaning in that direction. In terms of the four movies coming up this summer on "Mystery!," here are my observations after screening all four in advance: In "Well-Schooled in Murder" (Aug. 31) an old school chum of Inspector Lynley gets him involved in the investigation of the apparent ritual murder of a schoolboy at an elite boarding school much like the one Lynley attended as a boy. The book does an excellent job of showing us the sometimes intimidating social structure in such English schools and the TV version does a pretty fair job of that, too. Better yet, the old school itself provides a murky-creepy atmosphere for the intriguing mystery that soon has Lynley delving into the tangled lives of the adults as well as the students. Meanwhile, Barbara Havers must deal with the death of her father and the growing problem of her mother's senility. "Payment in Blood" (Sept. 7) is a delicious old-style novel where all the suspects are on the premises at an isolated country estate. Unfortunately, the TV version introduces too many characters in too short a time and the way they're interlaced becomes all too confusing. The plot involves the murder of a playwright while she's conducting a series of readings with the actors who'll be bringing her drama to the stage. The filming took place on the former country estate of the late George Harrison of The Beatles. This is an enthralling mystery to read, but considerably less riveting to watch as TV. For the Sake of Elena (Sept. 14) really worked for me, but maybe that's because I haven't read the book yet. It's about the murder of Elena, the daughter of a distinguished Cambridge historian, while she's jogging. While Lynley turns his attention to the father, his ex-wife, his new wife and his extra-marital lover, Havers probes the dead girl's promiscuous activities. This has an excellent supporting cast, including Tim Pigott-Smith, Cherie Lunghi and Sophie Ward. High marks for this one. Missing Joseph (Sept. 21) may be the best of the lot so far. In this one, a vicar dies of hemlock poisoning after having a meal at the home of a New Age herbalist in a very rural Lancashire village. Lynley is troubled to learn that the local police constable was having an affair with the herbalist, a woman who has a few juicy secrets of her own to hide. This is a nifty little mystery with lots of twists and turns. And, as a bonus, one of Elizabeth George's most important supporting characters, Lady Helen Clyde, turns up to complicate things through her romantic relationship to Lynley. Though I'm with most of Elizabeth George's fans when it comes to disappointment over the way some of her characters have been handled, I think the author has the right attitude: This is just TV and the books are still there to read and enjoy. If you enjoy the television mysteries, you may be enticed into trying the books--and that will be the big payoff for you, for sure. ©2003 by Ron Miller. The photo from "The Thomas Lynley Mysteries" is courtesy of WGBH Boston, the American production center for the series. The Elizabeth George photo is from her website and is courtesy of the author. |
Ron Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series, and the "Case Book" column on the official "Mystery!" website. He currently teaches classes in mystery and related topics at Whatcom Community College and Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
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