Thoughts on A Woman Of Substance - the new series versus original and book? Spoiler Alert

[PinkTonic]

Setting up a thread to have a decent discussion of the new version compared to the original series and book.

I’m up to episode 5 personally and pretty nonplussed about what I consider to be pointless and gratuitous changes to characters and plot. I’d love to hear other opinions and don’t care what episodes are discussed. I think Brenda Blethyn is all kinds of wrong for Emma although I like the young version. I am immensely irritated that someone thought it was a good idea to completely omit how Emma started her business and life in Leeds whilst wasting time on the sordid details of Adam’s sex life. And no Laura!!

Watching it now (1985). It has tickled me that the female, loyal PA was called Gaye :).

Clothes are en-pointe; I was 25 in 1995 and wore stuff like Paula is wearing. Deborah Kerr looks like my vision of Emma in the book but Brenda did the accent better. Having lived with an Armley export who left aged 18, despite using his voice for his living, he still has the burr. Emma woukd not be as cut glass, she wasn't Margaret Thatcher who probably retained a burr privately.

I watched the first episode and started the second. I’d forgotten Jim was such a whiny arse.

No Paul?! Thank god I didn't watch it. I got 9 mins in and that was it. Read all the books and watched the original adaptation faithfully back then. Glad I didn't bother!Was Blackie renamed Mac?!

Not sure on the Catherine Cookson mention here as Barbara Taylor Bradford is the author....?

Ahh
see I am 51 and remember my mum watching the original.
but I didn’t and haven’t read the book so I really enjoyed this , I love Emmet J Scanlon so liked seeing him as the squire and am now wondering if Emma loved Mac , who was the love of her life ? It went from Edwin to marrying the shop owner and then who did she love after that ?

@LilyBunch25 Yes for some reason Blackie has been renamed as Mac. @Dontpretenditssuchamystery Paul is the love of Emma’s life who for some reason doesn’t feature in the new adaptation. He’s the father of Daisy, who is Paula’s mother. Daisy also not in the adaptation 🤷🏻‍♀️ and she marries Ainsley after Paul goes away.

It's ok, but I haven't read the book so can't compare it. I like the young Emma actress, but finding it odd to have all the sex stuff with the Fairley husband (who's a terrible wooden actor and gives me the creeps) and the sisters. It doesn't seem to have any connection with the Emma/revenge plot so why bother? Nice to see Beamish used as a location though. I'm not keen on Brenda Blethyn but thankfully she's not been in it much so far.

What No Laura They have completely cut out Blackies wife?

Im watching at TV pace and they have cut out Paul and Daisy. FFS how stupid.

And the over focus on the Fairleys. If it wasnt for the sex scenes id think Julian Fellowes wrote this version. I read the whole Harte trilogy as a teen. Wonder if Hold The Dream will get this treatment. I hope not.

I also saw on screen that this version is supposed to be a tribute to Barbara Taylor Bradford. Some tribute

Actually she did appear later but hadn’t in the first three episodes.

Yes we want to remake your story as a tribute but even though you wrote it in the 70s and it’s set in the early 1900s and the 70s we’ve made a few improvements for you. We’ve added a full range of D&I, a Madonna/whore storyline for Adam, quite graphic, and rewritten a few of the key characters and their relationships, you know, just to make it more 2026. Oh, and none of us were born in the olden days so we don’t really know how people dressed in the 70s except for a fancy dress party we went to once, so we’ve gone with that.

ETA I quoted your wrong post but you get my drift…

Exactly! It’s a shambles.

I thought that they had omitted the one true love of Emma’s life until I realised they’d renamed him. And yes the diversifying of the casting was a bit of a mockery. Her brother joined the navy and was not a little person.
I can imagine the meetings they held in order to comply with current casting policies with the resulting manipulation of the script to accommodate at least one of every group. They missed trans so it wasn’t a full house.

When dramatising a well known book set within a specific timeline why is it necessary to depict diversity. The book had two themes upward mobility and revenge. I love Bridgerton because it is pure fantasy, a fairy story, but applying the same formula to a fairly accurate historical romantic/tragic /adversity novel is just wrong. If you want to make it about race, loosely base the script on the real struggles of black or Asian families who immigrated to Yorkshire in the 50s and 60s and their climb out of inequality and poverty. Bring it up to date rather than making a poor quality inaccurate historical drama.

Paul isn’t in it? There is no Daisy, either, I don’t think.

I hang my head in complete shame -sorry 😩BTB😥

Lol its only because I was a BTB big fan when I was younger and devoured all the books 😅

They HAVE omitted Paul Gill. They havent renamed him. He isnt in it at all. and Blackie renamed as Mac - words just fail me...

Yes, so whose child is Paula? 👀 Why is she Emma’s favourite and heir? Especially as she’s apparently as gormless and obnoxious as all the others and appears not to return the sentiment.

exactly. A travesty. They concentrate far too much on the Fairleys.

People who don't know the story, must be baffled by how Emma had acquired 2 more children in the last episode, with no explanation as to who their father was, seeing as last time we saw Emma she was Joe's widow. It's almost as if they made a whole other episode featuring Paul/Daisy et al and then just deleted it. This also meant that the Paula/Jim storyline just didn't ring true and Paula is portrayed more as a personal assistant than someone about to take over an empire.
I quite enjoyed the first couple of episodes despite the changes but got more annoyed as time went on.

Oh and for anybody irritated by the diversity introduced into WoS, I suggest you take a valium before watching The Other Bennet Sister, where Meryton in 1800 appears to have become as multicultural as London in 2026.

Although they seem to be a bit sketchy on detail even there. I mean who is Jim’s Grandmother? Clearly not Edwin’s pregnant wife from the story shown so far.

I didn’t even attempt the Bennett sister thing. I can’t have my Jane Austen sullied by modern notions, I’d have a heart attack.

Another author named Barbara l read as teen was Barbara Erskine. I read Lady of Hay and Kingdom of Shadows as a teen then fifteen years ago i read Hiding From the Light. I would LOVE these to be televised as long as it wouldnt be another hatchet job.

Oh dear, I read and watched this at the end of last year so not looking forward to this new version. I don't have an issue with the casting really, its fiction I can suspend disbelief. The other ommisions and changes seem annoying though.