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CAPITAL - BBC 1 new drama starts Tuesday, November 24 at 9pm

139 replies

sadwidow28 · 24/11/2015 01:39

A new three part drama, Capital, starts on BBC 1 on 24th November and is expected to be one for all those London lovers.

In the new series, the residents of an affluent south London street struggle with their health, financial and family problems behind closed doors, watched by secretive artist Smitty, who has his own connection to the road.

The community is wary and stunned when dwellers each receive a note bearing the words `We Want What You Have', through their letterboxes, but in due course begin to see their lives transformed.

Toby Jones, Lesley Sharp, Wunmi Mosaku and Adeel Akhtar star in Peter Bowker's adaptation of John Lanchester's critically acclaimed novel.

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WhereBeThatBlackbirdTo · 01/12/2015 22:06

I was shouting at Petunia's daughter to wait until she had died to start on the house. I was so cross with her!

southeastdweller · 01/12/2015 22:07

I'm disappointed. It still feels like the various stories are going too fast and there's too many stereotypes. It finishes next week and it feels like it's only just starting.

Stellar67 · 01/12/2015 22:09

I agree south. I don't know how a conclusion can happen within an hour next week. I'm a bit meh right now. If I missed next week I wouldn't be fussed.

ENtertainmentAppreciated · 01/12/2015 22:10

I want to see next week, but agree it's going far too fast and there's loads to explore that hasn't been given enough time.

I was fuming at Petunia's daughter too, but, sadly, it reflects some of real life Sad

Clawdy · 01/12/2015 22:30

It's absolutely gripping me, perhaps because I haven't read the book. I'm finding the characters fascinating,and the acting is first-rate.

eddiemairswife · 01/12/2015 22:50

I read the book about a month ago, and it is sticking very closely to the text, but it should have been 5 or 6 episodes to do the book justice. At least it is shot in daylight and I can see what is happening unlike London Spy and The Bridge.

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sadwidow28 · 02/12/2015 13:01

I haven't read back yet - but I wonder if "I WANT WHAT YOU HAVE" is something to do with family values.

Petunia RIP (but how wicked of Mary to be having her house 'tarted up' ready to sell before her death).

Mark has come a cropper I think - all the sticks/shares went DOWN, DOWN, DOWN but Roger will get the blame for that.

I am loving Mrs Kumal Sr - her sons will always be her babies won't they? The final scene of the armed squad arriving at the shop had me heart palpitating.

I am not following the Graham/Smitty character - his flat looked so pristine and contemporary. I was expecting an artist to live in some paint-splashed studio pad.

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DeoGratias · 02/12/2015 15:45

I just watched ep 2 and have not read the book.
One reason it's only 3 episodes is presumably as it's expensive to make TV I suppose.

A useful moral is that wanting what others have whatever that might be is rarely a way to be happy in life.

AnnieNoMouse · 02/12/2015 20:19

What's the grandson up to? He took Petunia's postcard but had a whole host of them in his studio - were they copies or were they made by him in the first place?
When the detective spoke to him at the funeral and said he'd seen his face on the website the grandson seemed surprised - I wondered if that was because he set up the website and knows he's not on any of the images; and the detective was trying to psych him out?

DeoGratias · 02/12/2015 20:40

I thought the grandson suspected his assistant and that that was part of the theme - assistant wanted job of boss. Assistant to banker wants his job. Wants what he has etc.

I hope the old lady left her house in her will (after inheritance tax of £1m+ is paid ) to her grandson or something else and not her daughter.

ENtertainmentAppreciated · 02/12/2015 21:00

I'm watching Smitty/Graham, the Detective and the brother+friend from the corner shop.

I like the nanny character, is she called Matya?

HoomanBean · 02/12/2015 23:40

That was a really interesting episode. I was hooked. But the last scene was heart stopping. Poor family.

hackmum · 03/12/2015 09:54

I very much enjoyed the book, and think this is a pretty good adaptation, considering they've had to drop the footballer and condense some of the other stories.

hackmum · 03/12/2015 09:56

But - as with A Casual Vacancy - I think it's very hard to do a tv adaptation of a book that has multiple characters and interweaving storylines. A few years ago Andrew Davies did that very clever adaptation of Little Dorrit where he treated it like a min-soap, with 12 half hour episodes. Probably hard to get something like that past the commissioners, though.

LatinForTelly · 04/12/2015 16:22

I haven't read the book but even I feel like they are skipping over things too much. They only have time to sketch each scene quickly, and that makes it easy to lose nuance, and reduce everything to stereotype, though I suppose it makes it pacy.

I wonder why they do that, when they happen upon something good, whilst they drag out things like the missing, and that kidnap nothern Africa thing with Anna Friel?

They condensed three of Kate Atkinson's books into three 1 hour programmes a couple of years ago. That maddened me too [grrr].

southeastdweller · 04/12/2015 19:07

The BBC adaptation of War and Peace that's broadcast next month is six hours long. The book has 1296 pages Hmm

I've just read The Cuckoo's Calling and hope the BBC don't condense that too much.

eddiemairswife · 04/12/2015 19:22

BBC War and Peace in the 70s had 20 episodes. we went on holiday for 4 weeks in the middle so I bought the 2 Penguin paperbacks, and spent the time reading in the French sunshine.

glamorousgrandmother · 05/12/2015 13:46

Graham, Petunia's son, is supposed to be a Banksy type guerrilla artist who regards art as a commodity and is fabulously rich but not even his mother knows.

glamorousgrandmother · 05/12/2015 13:46

grandson not son

EssexGurl · 05/12/2015 23:02

I think Toby Jones is quite good as a dinosaur banker. I worked in the city in the early 90s and the requirements then were v different to now. TJ is v old school. Mark more young and trendy. Quite sad really what has happened to the City. From relationships to computer programmes,

Davros · 08/12/2015 09:19

I think they've made Mary a horrible character. I don't think she was in the book. She dropped everything at home to live with and look after her mum for what seemed like months. She didn't seem to be after her mother's money but wanted to get rid of the house

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sadwidow28 · 08/12/2015 09:29

Well Mary is certainly unlikeable in this TV adaptation isn't she?

Are we ready for tonight's final episode?

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sadwidow28 · 08/12/2015 20:59

Is everyone here and ready for the final episode tonight?

I've brought lots of Dairy Milk Chocolate Help yourselves.

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sadwidow28 · 08/12/2015 21:08

I predicted that Roger Yount would be blamed for Mark's rogue trading. But he made a great point - when the older managers don't know what the younger traders are doing with their algorithms, how is the manager supposed to 'manage' them.

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sadwidow28 · 08/12/2015 21:19

The question is ............... is the IP address secure or is someone else using it? The builder?

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