A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE - Wed&Thur - ch4 9pm - TV PACE NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

A woman of substance Was originally aired 41 years ago and remains channel 4 highest rated program with 13.8 million people tuning in to the rags to riches story of by BARBARA Taylor Bradford

this drama eight episodes - two a week for four weeks

This new adaptation stars as the older EMMA who heads up a business empire we discover as she stepped back through the decades to meet her younger self that she started out of a maid in a big Yorkshire house

This is a story to climb from poverty to great wealth

I don’t think I’ve ever read any of her books so should be interesting if any good

Same. Also not as much tv, so what we did watch we remember. I still remember the death of Brian Tilsley late 80’s in corrie, Bert dying, stan dying, Angie and den, and not forgetting Dallas and the who shot JR.

and we weren’t inundated with tv, no 24 hour tv. Breakfast tv had started in the last decade or so. Different times. I sometimes think, now we have too much choice.

Well it’s highly debatable whether terrible CGI is an improvement on 80s production imo. And this is not a book adaptation, it’s an alternative storyline based on the original premise.

I thought about the Thorn Birds as well. Also The Far Pavilions which was another doorstep of a book and tear jerker of a tv drama.

Ooh, never heard of the Far Pavilions - will have to hunt that one down.

My all time fave (second only to the Thorn Birds) is North and South.

Ooh yes, I loved North and South. I rewatched the Thorn Birds with great nostalgia a couple of years ago but had to admit it hadn’t dated well. I absolutely adored it at the time, first the book and then the TV adaptation. I wonder if Scruples is anywhere to be found?

Loved Paul McGill!!! As I posted upthread.

I haven't got to the end so didn't realise he's not in it - why have they left out really key characters? It's odd. Or is this part 1? I heard an interview on Woman's Hour and it sounded like this is the first instalment?

We’re on the non spoiler thread here and it’s sensitive 😬

Oh gosh! Didn't think and replied before you edited your post. And can't edit mine now you've replied to it.

Will need to report myself.

I think it is a bit like the recent adaptation of the The Forsythe Saga - inspired by the story but not close to the book. I enjoyed the pre WW1 Emma but wasn't sure about Brenda Blethyn as the older Emma. She looked more like Barbara Taylor-Bradford than an older Emma Harte. Not sure the actress who played Paula could carry a second series should they decide to adapt 'Hold the Dream'. However overall its quite a good watch.

I’ve said before if a book is that good. That they make it into tv

why do they change stuff

Cutting out minor characters and skimming over non vital parts of the plot to cover a huge book is expected. Cutting out major characters, unnecessarily missing out significant parts of the plot to gratuitously replace them with stuff that was never there and rewriting the main storyline is not.

Does seem weird

maybe I need to buy the book

I love tv pace threads because if (as I often do) I come very late to a show, I can read the thread at the same speed as I watch it. While I may not be able to contribute, I can still enjoy other people's comments without ruining the show.

Absolutely

I’ve just watched the 1985 version again and found the first episode a bit slow but love the second and third episodes. Emma is a ball breaker! And love Jenny Seagrove.

I watched it a couple of weeks ago. I’m going to watch Hold the Dream next, in which Jenny Seagrove plays Paula in costumes designed by Karl Lagerfeld.

@Blondeshavemorefun and everyone else watching at TV schedule pace, I totally respect this is a no spoiler thread! - it was not meant as a criticism- just that lots of people who know the book and the original version (many of use it as a bit of a comfort/cheese watch), whilst not wanting to include spoilers, may struggle just because it all becomes a bit blurred 😉.

I think I was expecting a bit too much- as a story and epic rags to riches tale, the book is very of its time anyway. The last dramitisation certainly appears pretty dated but works because basically that it how it was done in its time. It was event TV as someone already posted, we had far less to watch. I still return to it occasionally though, despite all its faults. The same with all the Catherine Cookson dramas they churned out (think it was ITV) at the same time- they were pretty bad really but a lovely afternoon when nothing else is on and you need a 'comfort blanket' watch!

Maybe it is just comforting because it takes people back to a simpler time in their lives and we have our rose tinted glasses on. The problem with this adaptation for me (and others it seems) is, whilst trying to modernise it they have held back/made the wrong decisions on what to cut/change and ended up with a bit of a 'half-way' damp squib.

I do not think (hope) this provides any spoilers for new viewers. I also think they have tried to leave the door open for another series- and not by using the next book. They have missed out some pretty important parts of the plot and for people who know it, this makes little sense. It is also too Fairley heavy. The original had a lot more about Emma and her struggles which have just been omitted- I cannot understand why considering the number of episodes!

They seem to also have tried to compete with Rivals and Bridgerton in adding lots of sex scenes. I really do not mind sex scenes in dramas if necessary to the plot. But these seem at expense of 'below stairs' parts of the plot in the early episodes which are quite rudimentary and rushed. It takes far too long to move on to the most important part of the story- Emma's after life in service. This maybe because of the amount of time given over to the Fairley's. Yes they are important but the story but is not really ultimately about them. (And this adaptation just feels (to me) to have got them all slightly wrong..... :-).

I will butt out now and maybe come back when it has finished airing to see how you all got on! It is always nice to have something new to get your teeth into. TV has been lacking any watchable drama (outside the amazing Slow Horses which meant I had to sign up to Apple again) this year.

I started a discussion thread to compare the new v old if you are interested in sharing views on that one.

@PinkTonic, that us good to know but slightly deadly for me as I am allowing myself to be distracted from completing reports for work 🙃. For those of you who are enjoying a nostalgia watch, I have recently rewatched all the amazing Dickens adoptions the BBC used to air on Sundays in the 1990s- those have definitely stood the test of time! Highly recommended.

No worries

I’m trying the old one. Tho it is old😂

@Blondeshavemorefun * *😂 certainly is and is also pretty rubbish in lots of ways. They just did melodrama rubbish better back then (and we knew no better)! Maybe watch after this one, it works in the way you rewatch stuff from the past and kind of enjoy it for that (in my head last week but actually 30 years ago)!

Maybe bring back Flambards!? 😊

I was trying to watch new 1 old 1 - new 2 old 2

so storyline roughly the same / hopefully

I had a go at watching the original series at the weekend and it reminded me how much less bright the colours on tv were all those years ago. And how false a lot of accents seemed to be, too. I do remember being quite a late adopter of the bigger, brighter tellies, and finding the brightness hard to get used to. The 2026 version is all very beautiful. I enjoyed it for that. A long enough gap since I read the book in about 1983 so it being more based on than adaptation didn't bother me. I mean it's tellyland so I'm quite happy to suspend disbelief and just enjoy (most of) the acting.
I'm more of a bookworm than telly addict so I think I might reread the book.

I’m enjoying the 2026 version - haven’t read the book or seen the original - but I can’t help thinking the Fairleys would have had better table manners. All that gesticulating with their knives and forks is very unrealistic for people of their class.