Australian readers: Return to Cranford on TV!

The first installment of Return to Cranford will be on this Sunday (1st August) at 8:30pm on ABC1.

~Charity's Place review

Caption contest: time to vote!

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed!! I said I'd pick the six entries I liked the best, but I've ended up including them all - they were all too good. ;-)

~~~~~

1. Mad Cow Disease - The Beginning.

2. "Yeah, I dress my human. She seems to need it."

3. Cow: it's not my fault she has no life companions. . .

4. Cow Fashion show, Winner gets to pose for the next "Chik-fil-a" Calendar.

5. "This cow is like a daughter to me!"

6. Mrs. Forrester: "What's the matter, Bessie dearest?" Bessie (to herself): "Those buttercups - they look soo delicious! Oh! If only I could talk human!!"

7. Mrs. Forrester: "At least I don't look like my cow!"

8. Mrs. Forrester: "...And we've been happily married ever since!"

9. "She's a little too big for the baby carriage, so I have to walk her around on a rope."

~~~~~

Vote ahead! See the right-hand side of screen to vote for your favourites. You may choose more than one entry. Voting closes on 2nd July 4:00 am, AEST (whatever time that may be in whatever part of the world you're in!).

Friday caption contest!

A lot of other bloggers have been having caption contests lately. I thought it would be fun to have one here at Ribbons of Light.

Each week (hopefully every Friday), I'll post a picture. Then it will be your turn to think up the funniest, wittiest caption you can. Entries will be open for all of Friday and Saturday (Australian time, LOL! Probably Thursday evening - early Saturday morning in America). After entries close, I'll pick the six captions that make me laugh the most. :-) Then I'll create a poll for those six, and you can vote for whichever caption you thought was the best. Winner is announced the next Friday, at which point there will also be a new picture to post captions for! Make sense? I hope I wasn't too confusing. . .

Now, lets get started! This week's picture. . .

Mrs. Forrester (Julia McKenzie) and her "Bessie Dearest" :-)

Andrew Davies: BBC costume drama going "Downmarket"?

Yet another adaptation of David Copperfield? *Yawns* (A very cute, very young Daniel Radcliffe in the BBC's 1999 adaptation)

Thanks to Charleybrown, for the link!

Have a look at this article from the Telegraph.

Andrew Davies, television's master of literary adaptations and the writer behind the BBC's award-winning Bleak House, Little Dorrit and Pride and Prejudice, said the corporation is interested only in the "popular warhorses" of literary fiction. 

His planned adaptations of Dombey and Son, one of Charles Dickens' lesser-read stories, and of the Palliser novels by Anthony Trollope, were both scrapped. Instead, the BBC has asked for a re-tread of David Copperfield, which has had numerous television outings. 

(Click here to read the full article and interview with Andrew Davies.)

Auntie Beeb - what are you thinking? Tired rehashes of popular Austen and Dickens novels instead of fresh adaptations of forgotten gems? As much as I love both Austen and Dickens, the last thing we need is another TV version of David Copperfield.

Daniela-Denby-Ashe in North and South

Look at the success of the BBC's Elizabeth Gaskell adaptations - North and South, Wives and Daughters, and Cranford. The immense popularity of these series has spawned a Gaskell revival of sorts, with Mrs. Gaskell's books finally getting the readership they deserve. Or Lark Rise to Candleford, based on a series of books by Flora Thompson that few people had heard of only 3 years ago. Now, the BBC's Lark Rise is into it's third series, and going strong.

BBC, if you're going to restrict future costume dramas to popular classics that have already been adapted for television umpteen times, please, just don't bother. 

Now - on a more constructive note, here are 10 forgotten classics that I would LOVE to see the BBC take on:

1. Evelina by Fanny Burney (BBC, if you don't want to do any more 19th century "bonnet dramas", how about adapting some pre-bonnet-era classics?)

2. Cecilia by Fanny Burney

3. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

4. Villette by Charlotte Bronte (this would be difficult to adapt, but incredible to watch if it was done right!)

5. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

6. Belinda by Maria Edgeworth

7. Any L.M. Montgomery book, but I'd love it if they did an adaptation of The Blue Castle (perhaps a co-production with a Canadian TV network?).

8. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Okay, okay, I said I didn't want any more Austen adaptations. But this is the one exception. Mansfield Park is, in my opinion, Jane Austen's best novel, and yet there is still no satisfactory film version. Yes, it would be difficult to translate to screen, but if anyone were to be up to the challenge, it would be the BBC - right? Or so I thought. . . :-( 

9. Any one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays. The BBC made a brief return to Shakespeare in 2005 with four Shakespeare stories set in the modern-day world (ShakespeaRetold), but I'd like to see some Shakespeare in it's original setting. It doesn't have to be big-budget, just well acted, with a good script! Duh! Exotic locations aren't necessary, either. Do one of the Histories that are set in England.

10. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. One of my favourite books as a little girl. Make it into a two-part Christmas special, or something like that. The 1995 version changed the book, the characters, the ending. . . it even changed the setting from late-19th-century England to WWI-era America. The 1986 version was better, but it's getting a bit dated.

Okay, strictly speaking, these aren't "literary adaptations", but I think they'd be worth making all the same:

*A biopic of Fanny Burney

*A biopic of the Brontes

~~~~~

What are some of your favourite books that you would *love* to see made into a movie or TV series?

Photos from the set of Cranford sequel

Thanks to Elisabeth from the S&S forums for sharing the link.

Have a look at this huge gallery of pictures from the set of the upcoming Cranford Christmas special! There are hundreds of pics. . . I'm never going to have time to look at them all! But what I have seen has certainly whetted my appetite for more Cranford. Looking forward to the sequel! :-)

Look at how much little Harry has grown since the first series! Unbelievable. He can't have grown that tall in just a couple of years!

Miss Pole (Imelda Staunton) still has that feather sticking out of her hat.

Click here to view the full gallery.

Current Mood: Tired

Cranford: what the papers are saying

Nothing! The papers are saying nothing! Really it is quite shocking. Cranford seems to have almost slipped under the radar. Almost. I did manage to find a couple of reviews.

The Age says you'll either be charmed or repelled by Cranford. (Trust me, you'll be charmed!)

And David Knox from TV Tonight reckons Cranford is a piece to be treasured. Right on, mate. But how come you only gave it 4 1/2 stars? Seriously, I think it deserves at least 10 out of 5. . . :P

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend! Now, I need to go and get ready for church. . .

~Elise

Current Mood: Annoyed

Finally! Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford on ABC1 Sunday Night

Yep,  15 months after it was aired in the UK, period drama lovers Down Under finally get to enjoy the BBC's Cranford - three of Elizabeth Gaskell's novels blended together into one magnificent miniseries.

"You need to be in front of this on Sunday night. It goes for three weeks and if you don't love it there's something wrong with you." -- from an article in the Courier-Mail. I couldn't agree more! Link: Cranford a program for our frugal days

I'll be sure to post more news articles and reviews as they come.

I can't recommend this program highly enough - but I won't bore you by gushing over it; just watch it for yourself!

Click here to go to the ABC's program page for Cranford.

Just to clarify that again: Cranford will be shown in three segments on ABC1, starting tomorrow, Sunday 8th Feb. at 8:30pm.

EDIT: Perhaps it isn't necessary, but I should perhaps add that when I say ABC I mean the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - not the American Broadcasting Corporation, LOL! :-)

Current Mood: Satisfied

My memories from 2008 (well, a few of them anyway)

A Bouquet of Flowers, by William Arthur Breakspeare

Dear Miss Jen tagged me! This is possibly the hardest meme I have ever done. . . but I enjoyed it! :-)

The rules:
1. Fill in your memories of 2008
2. Link my blog to yours
3. Tag others and comment on their blogs so
they know they've been tagged

My memories from 2008

~A good book I read~

Only one??? You have got to be kidding me. . . okay, I'll just pick a random good book that I read this year. Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell, was a beautiful, beautiful book. Full of sad, funny, and touching moments, with many extremely poignant scenes. It's very different than North and South, but I loved it once I got into it.

~A great film/movie I watched~

At least this one's bit of a no-brainer! I finally watched the Lord of the Rings movies last year, and I have recently been re-watching them with my daddy. Early last year I bought myself a set of the 4-disc extended versions of the trilogy (that's 12 dvds, altogether!), and I'm so glad I did!

~A new place I visited~

We visited a nearby national park, and got to see the waterfalls and the mountains. It was stunning - we got some good photos, but I can't be bothered putting them up just now. . . sorry! I've kind of forgotten how upload photos on here, anyway.

~An inspiring verse or quote I read~

Hmmm. . . the words of Psalm 27 touched me very deeply.

~A discovery I made~

Hmmm. . . why are these questions so hard. . . I'm going to borrow from Miss Jen - my discovery for last year was blogging! I really have enjoyed the 6 months or so of blogging I have done so far. I have so enjoyed getting to meet you all! It has been such a pleasure. :-)

~A new skill I acquired~

Once again, I'm going to have to concur with Miss Jen here - last year was the year I learnt to make bread! I've still got a lot to learn when it comes to bread-baking, but at least I have some confidence here now - I am no longer intimidated by bread recipes. Bread has been conquered. This year I want to learn to make meringues *properly*, I want to learn to make fluffy, delicious sponge cake, and I want to try making home-made turkish delight, amongst many other things. (I love turkish delight!)

~A lesson I learned~

I learnt not to buy too much stuff on eBay! I went through a stage last year where I was overwhelmed by all the stuff I'd been getting. . . never again! I have made up my mind I want to save up for a new guitar. Not that there's anything wrong ith my little Cort, but - a Maton would be nice. . . or even - *starts drooling* - a Gibson acoustic guitar. . . actually, probably not a Gibson, since they start at about $3000. . .

~A moment I will always remember~

Easy-peasy! The moment I held my darling little sister in my arms for the first time. :-)

~o0o~

Now, this time I'm not going to officially tag anyone - if you'd like to do this meme, consider yourself tagged! On the other hand, if you can't be bothered to do it, then of course don't bother! :-

Current Mood: Weird