Posted by Robert Thompson on August 16, 1999 at 22:41:37 from tenor1.demon.co.uk:
In Reply to: S&A on the radio posted by Fiona on August 16, 1999 at 10:16:03:
Surely it wasn't that bad? Hilary Weston is correct in that David Wood was the dramatist for the radio play and also the writer of the screen play for the 1974 film. One surely can't expect a film or a play to keep to every word and nuance of the original. We who know the books so well are easily over-critical about anything which deviates from the original text.
What is more important is that anyone coming to the story for the first time finds something which might attract them and ultimately lead them to reading the book itself. I believe that the radio play was attractive in its own way - I found the so-called inconsistencies no more than slightly irritating, but could live with them; eg
The Walkers arriving by train, Titty's comment about the sheep "see the camels bravely plod"
Roger's comment on the telegram "But why doesn't he just say yes?"
and so on.
The idea of an adult Titty narrating in retrospect also caused me no problems, although it was a pity that she had to apologise for her name, and had to put in the idea "of course today one would wear a life-jacket".
I was speaking today to Caroline Thomson, the illustrator of the Radio Times drawing advertising the programme. She said that she had been given six days to research fully, had to skip through the book rather swiftly and could now go and read S&A at her leisure for the first time since childhood. Isn't that the sort of thing we want? The last thing we want is the BBC saying amongst themselves, "Oh heck, it's one of those nitpicking Literary Societies bleating about us again". Hopefully many listeners are attracted and will follow up their interest by reading or re-reading the books.