I am a fan of Peter James and especially his Roy Grace detective novels. I have avoided watching the ITV series Grace (based on his books) as I felt that only devoting just over an hour and a quarter to cover each book was going to make them incredibly rushed and lightweight despite the presence of John Simms as Grace. However, in the last couple of days my partner decided she would watch a couple of them (she is not as big a fan as I am of the books so less committed than I to any TV series doing them justice) and consequently I caved and decided to join her... my fears were spot on... too rushed with little character development (unlike the books) and consequently the plot jumps around a bit too much with reasons why things happen not entirely clear (due to the aforementioned rushing). The worst thing though is how stereotypical the different police characters are... sure the books feature some embellished characters in this regard (it's fiction after all), but it's done in a much subtler way with huge attention to detail around police procedure (a point made by my ex-CID pal in Manchester who is also a fan of the books). Such a shame as had these been made by the likes of the team that make Unforgotten, for instance, and extended out to 2 or even 3 hours each I think the excellent source material would have yielded a far more noteworthy adaptation.
Hugely disappointed as I expected to be.
I would also cite Dune (the original 80s movie) in this category. I loved the book and despite being a huge Lynch fan found the movie deeply disappointing. As a result, I haven't summoned up the courage to watch the latest adaptation as yet.
What are your book to TV/movie disappointments?
Hugely disappointed as I expected to be.
I would also cite Dune (the original 80s movie) in this category. I loved the book and despite being a huge Lynch fan found the movie deeply disappointing. As a result, I haven't summoned up the courage to watch the latest adaptation as yet.
What are your book to TV/movie disappointments?
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