BBC to bring the famous five to TV

She should be a girl voicing she wants to be a boy and remaining a girl.

YY

I liked Anne because she was truly brave, often doing things even when really scared.

Me too!

I don't see any need to put down Anne's character & personality.

Overall the FF were annoying & painful but of their time - still a great series of books much enjoyed.

Agree fully re not transing George. Oh please please don't ....

Yup this.

She should be a girl voicing she wants to be a boy and remaining a girl.

🙄

Don't forget Aunt Fanny.

titters

Anne was also quieter, more submissive, less adventurous because she was the youngest. I think Julian started at 13, Dick and George 11 and Anne 9. Possibly each a year younger (12/10/8)?

In terms of diversity, I always thought Quentin was autistic and possibly George too.

Sorry but I see no reason why any of the characters cannot be people of colour and I would welcome this.

Why can’t the main characters be white English children? What is wrong with that?

George should stay as George, she should still voice her desire to be a boy - but no binders, no sex hormones, no deluded adults telling her she is a boy. I cant remember if the book included anyone explicitly saying but of course you are not a boy. If so that should be there too, otherwise let people see it was perfectly possible to live as you chose without anyone telling you to harm your body.

Someone recently mentioned the FF. I have wondered what the gender critical opinion of George would be.

To avoid causing offence, should George be called Georgina(her given name) in the series and drop the whole "she wants to be a boy" character arch to avoid giving the idea it could be trans-ideology?

She can of course, still be a tomboy.

Oh gosh yes!

That would certainly be more progressive than transing George which would just reinforce a rather extreme form of narrow sex roles as somehow novel, rather than an even stronger version of old sexist roles and norms.

I still don't quite understand how we came from the 1960s and 1970s gender revolution to what is happening today where up is down and down is up.

That's essentially Swallows and Amazons, give or take a few extra characters. Anne is not a patch on Susan for sheer authoritarian organising of her rash and distractible siblings.

Dylan whatisname for Ann?

Also Ann is perfect transgirl material. Stereotype galore.

Plot twist will be if Anne is transed

Yes it'll be this. Entirely get rid of an opportunity for a female actor and instead throw another bloke into the mix.

Was googling some involved; found it ironic that Nicholas is also working on this

I'm quite disappointed to see on a feminist board people pooh-pooing Anne and her contribution to the stories - for fucks sake, no-one would have anywhere to sleep and nothing to eat if Anne wasn't there. Also she often solved the mystery by noticing something subtle the others missed

As a small girl who was always the youngest and sometimes struggled to keep up I liked Anne because she was truly brave, often doing things even when really scared.

Totally agree about Anne being actually a valuable member of the group. But, she couldn't just be a girly girl - she was SUCH an exaggeration of a type- dusting the bushes, getting scared of everything etc that it was hard not to look down on as a child. Not like George who was "almost as good as a boy". And who would actually want to be solely responsible for everyone having food etc while being looked down on as pathetic.

So actually there's a lot to unpack there about Enid blyton's attitude towards women/girls. But I still really liked the books as a child so meh.

I think it’s perfectly valid on a feminist board to be uneasy that the only girl role model is to provide domestic service, because the other girl that is active and brave feels she can only do that as a boy.

A story about four children with two girls called Anne and Georgina where Anne was more passive but noticed things and Georgina more active but both children are clearly girls and all four make their own bracken based beds would be better role models (especially without Julian always wanging on patronisingly about Anne being the perfect housewife all the time).

However possibly that story not have stuck in the national psyche quite so much.

George probably did want to be a boy, absolutely. But it wasn't any more possible for her then than it is for teens today.

Growing up I somehow managed to climb trees/build dens/hurtle about on a bike/roller skates as well as popping on some ballet shoes for a few hours/week. It's what most girls did in semi-rural England in the 70's (no interesting shops sports centres/swimming pools/gyms for miles).

I devoured Famous 5 alongside the other series. Presumably they've been altered a fair amount over the years (as they certainly seemed to be infra dig for quite a few years).

What's the betting that Timmy is a labradoodle or something!

a) I'm still a tom-boy today (45 years later)
b) I think they will not stop until there are no role models left for girls :(
c) I'm quite disappointed to see on a feminist board people pooh-pooing Anne and her contribution to the stories - for fucks sake, no-one would have anywhere to sleep and nothing to eat if Anne wasn't there. Also she often solved the mystery by noticing something subtle the others missed.

Enid Blyton said George was based on herself. She married more than once and had children. If they want to show George as trans it should be with a later life detrans story.

George was a tomboy icon for me when I was little. It was brilliant to have someone like me represented in books I read. Didn't give me the urge to bind my chest or shove a toilet roll tube in the front of my pants.
It just let me enjoy larking about climbing stuff, not wearing frills and generally being brave.

Well they have started filming already, apparently. I wonder who the adults are going to be

This write up sounds quite promising:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/nicolas-winding-refn-the-famous-five-enid-blyton-bbc-zdf-1235523719/