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!!

@mateysmum, well exactly, as evidenced on this thread. The complete erasing of brothers, husband's and key characters has us all confused! I do not really care about colour blind casting. It is the absolute re-writing of the plot that is an issue for me.

I have said this before- they have dragged this out over enough episodes that wiping huge parts of the plot is not necessary. There has been a conscious decision somewhere to make it 'more Fairley' (and IMHO they have got them all of that wrong) and less about Emma, her struggles and the people who helped her get to where she ended up.

I think if I ever read the book, it would have been as a teen/young adult, so I am mainly taking my references from the original adaptation. I am not a super fan, but I was in a horrible place in my life, and remember it being re-broadcast on C4 in the afternoon. After stumbling across it I made sure I got back to catch the next episode. I have rewatched over the years, taking it for what it is. I am not sure why I am so pissed off about this version, but I am.😂

@PinkTonic

Scruples (scroll down slightly and choose "server 2") 😊

Thank you!

ETA: yikes! I clicked the link and got more than I bargained for. Scruples with added porn pop ups. I need to bleach my eyes!

I read the book when it first came out, loved the original BTB adaptations of her books, which her husband had a hand in producing, of which I think there are 4 or 5 and sadly this adaptation seems to me to be a total hash, missing siblings, characters that are sidelines given too much focus, major story twists missing and name changes totally unnecessary. Deborah Kerr was elegant, more focused, less vengeful, as Emma was, but the costumes in this new attempt are tacky, as are some of the characterisations, including Paula, who seems to lack the fact that the original Paula was, in some ways, very like Emma. And where is Paul, no Paul, no Sitex... and it is key to who Paula is, that she's his grandaughter. Why do they not write something new or could they please leave a good story alone.

I'm also 51 and remember the trailers and my mum watching the original though I was a bit too young. I did read the book much later though that was at least 20 years ago and I've forgotten all the detail of the characters, so luckily (I'm up to episode 4) ot hasn't ruined my enjoyment of the new series too much.

I did notice that it spends much longer on her life in service than I remembered in the book. I also remember thinking that she seemed to find it very easy to make a new life and career as a single mother, just announcing oh I'm a widow and that was that. The TV series seems to explain that even less!

I like Brenda B usually but I agree she isn't right for the older Emma role at all.

I like that BB retains some hints of being working-class. The one bit where it didn't ring quite true was the over-dramatically delivered line which was in the trailer.

I agree that the overdiverse casting was distracting, and that there was too much of the older Fairleys' sex life and far too little of how Emma struggled then finally got established in Leeds. And as for renaming Blackie 🙄

I assume there'll be a second series where we meet Paul, and Ainsley (can't remember his first name). And presumably where, in a reversal of the twist, we find out that Jim is a nice chap who loves his wife.

In spite of all of the irritations, I still enjoyed it. It's a great story (even butchered) and so much of the acting was excellent, regardless of my feelings about the casting.

I've given it a fair chance after 4 episodes, but that's it for me now. Barbara Taylor Bradford must be turning in her grave. An awful adaptation of the book and original series. Okay, times have changed but this takes political correctness too far. Wooden describes most of cast with the only signs of life coming from Adele!

Hello @PinkTonic,

Check your DMs when you get the chance as I sent you a link a few days ago ...

Enjoy!

Thank you!

I enjoyed it, but I havnt seen the the 80s version, or read the book. My dad did have an openly gay male assistant in a corporate environment in the 1970s though.

Did the assistant dress like a cast member from Saturday Night Fever and openly refer to his boyfriends in an environment where all the other men were wearing traditional dark suits and ties?

I'm watching but just can't warm to it. I did watch the original when it aired but forgot most of it. But I do remember enjoying it.

Another I'd love to see again is Heart of the High Country. Does anyone remember it?

I remember him as being more flamboyantly dressed than the rest of dad’s colleagues. Dad wasn’t the most staid dresser either though, for a company solicitor. I have no idea if he spoke about his boyfriend at work.

I only half watched it as it was on in the background. The ending annoyed me so much

I have watched it all - and I’m rereading the first book now - and there were too many annoying changes - all the ones everyone else has mentioned. Removing Emma’s older brother, Winston, and giving her younger brother dwarfism. Marrying Edwin to an Asian woman. Renaming Blackie as Mac. The final twist with Jim Fairley.

I also thought that Emma’s family were supposed to live in the village, near to the Fairley mill - not out in a cottage all on its own, on the moors.

And a minor one, but Gerald Fairley was supposed to be very overweight.

On the other hand, I did like the settings and the clothes, and I thought Brenda Blethyn was good as the older Emma.

I quite liked the final twist - I thought it leads well into a new series as we know no one gets the better of Emma in the long-term🙄!

So I have a Q for the WoS purists…

I have only seen the recent adaptation, and was thinking I’d read the books, of which there are what 7? 8?

I know the current adaptation misses lots of detail from the books, but does it cover the same time period? Ie: do the books end in the late 60s/early 70s with Emma handing everything over to Paula on her 80th birthday…. Or is that just the end of the first book?

She makes Paula the heir to most of her business interests and cuts her children out of her will at a family weekend which was ostensibly for her 80th. I think the first book ended then in 1969 but the first adaptation fudged the timeline a bit and nudged into the 70s

Hated the ending! there has to be a sequel

Sorry but Brenda Blethyn just looked like Vera in a white wig. Was so disappointed, I was really looking forward to it, I much preferred the original series.

So that is the point-ish where the new tv adaptation ended - so there is potentially book material for several more series?

Yes it was a trilogy
A Woman of Substance
Hold The Dream
To Be The Best

It was mentioned in AWOS the book that Adam Fairley and Emmas mum Elizabeth had a thing when they were young. That piece of personalised jewellery that was found in Elizabeths jewellery box in a previous episode had been given to her by Adam

1.5 episodes in and really disappointed. It’s not patch on the original and while I haven’t seen a huge divergence from the book as yet but they’ve basically put a sex scene in everywhere possible so far.
I’m amused they’ve also renamed one of the main characters from “Blackie”
to “Mac”. As a chimney sweep/repairer the etymology is obviously not racist. Perhaps I am being naive to think that would not cause offence?

I read the books, and watched the original tv productions, which did replicate the spirit of the books
I fully realise that every screen writer that adapts a series from a book, is going to want to put their own stamp on it. However the story arch has got to flow and make sense. This adaption was just change for the sake of it. Missing out key characters made the plot nonsensical.
Only worth a C- must try harder…