I know exactly! And also: I, Claudius; War and Peace; Last of the Mohicans; Upstairs, Downstairs; Poldark; Little Women; Vanity Fair; and so many, many others. Those were the days. ::happy sigh::
You remember the War and Peace that was on MT? Wasn't that amazing? I read W&P after I saw that series (which I recall hearing took four years to make), and I recall easily being able to hear and visualize all the characters from the show, which meant they had been very faithful to the book. And Last of the Mohicans - I read the book after seeing that series as well. Let me tell you, I had one powerful crush on Uncas, and quite an appreciation for Hawkeye too. The movie version that came out a some years later was a big disappointment, because they took such Hollywood liberties with who was attracted to whom and screwed it all up; pairing Hawkeye with Cora and Uncas with Alice, IIRC (as if). After seeing the incomparable I Claudius I read the Robert Graves novels it was based - the excellence of those series were directly responsible for getting me to read literature I otherwise may not have chosen.
I taped every episode of Upstairs Downstairs. Before BtVS took over it was my comfort fare of choice. The Duchess of Duke Street was another favorite.
Possibly the best thing I've ever seen on TV is Dennis Potter's Pennies From Heaven. His The Singing Detective was also extraordinary. I'm in the process of re-watching the latter on DVD, which includes commentary by the director and the producer for the entire series, episode by episode. So, I'm watching each episode straight, and then again with the commentary. And best of all, it's the kind of informative commentary that is actually illuminating and worth the time. After I'm through with 'Detective I'm Diving right in to Pennies'. Fortunately for my threadbare pocketbook, my library has both series on DVD.
The director of 'Detective remarked during the commentary that the BBC would never allow them the freedom to make the series they made today. The Alistair Cooke era of MPT was truly the Golden Age of literary drama.
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You remember the War and Peace that was on MT? Wasn't that amazing? I read W&P after I saw that series (which I recall hearing took four years to make), and I recall easily being able to hear and visualize all the characters from the show, which meant they had been very faithful to the book. And Last of the Mohicans - I read the book after seeing that series as well. Let me tell you, I had one powerful crush on Uncas, and quite an appreciation for Hawkeye too. The movie version that came out a some years later was a big disappointment, because they took such Hollywood liberties with who was attracted to whom and screwed it all up; pairing Hawkeye with Cora and Uncas with Alice, IIRC (as if). After seeing the incomparable I Claudius I read the Robert Graves novels it was based - the excellence of those series were directly responsible for getting me to read literature I otherwise may not have chosen.
I taped every episode of Upstairs Downstairs. Before BtVS took over it was my comfort fare of choice. The Duchess of Duke Street was another favorite.
Possibly the best thing I've ever seen on TV is Dennis Potter's Pennies From Heaven. His The Singing Detective was also extraordinary. I'm in the process of re-watching the latter on DVD, which includes commentary by the director and the producer for the entire series, episode by episode. So, I'm watching each episode straight, and then again with the commentary. And best of all, it's the kind of informative commentary that is actually illuminating and worth the time. After I'm through with 'Detective I'm Diving right in to Pennies'. Fortunately for my threadbare pocketbook, my library has both series on DVD.
The director of 'Detective remarked during the commentary that the BBC would never allow them the freedom to make the series they made today. The Alistair Cooke era of MPT was truly the Golden Age of literary drama.