Options
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 - time for a remake?
Hollo and Gonch
Posts: 4,110 Forum Member
✭✭✭
This is my 3,000th post on Digital Spy, so I want to make it a significant one! Here goes...
I'm a huge fan of the Adrian Mole books. I love them and have read them all numerous times.
However, I think that the TV adaptations have been weak. Their direction has been predictable and stolid.
I was too young to appreciate the first adaptation when it originally aired, but have been catching up on YouTube. First part here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPaDlOsAsGs
My issues with the first series are that the pacing is wrong, the scenes are incoherent, and the lead actor isn't good enough to carry the role. This was also the case with the second series. The more recent series with Stephen Mangan hit the wrong tone entirely. It was too glossy and twee.
So this is what I'd do. I would keep Stephen Mangan and Julie Walters in their roles, but re-boot the series. The concept would be that the present-day Adrian finds and re-reads his old diaries from the start. Therefore, Stephen Mangan would be doing the voiceover, and could deliver the killer lines from the old books.
The flashback scenes from the 80s would be portrayed in a naturalistic way, but with fast cutting. They would be shot from a child's perspective, much like the old episodes of Grange Hill were. The events in the series would follow the diaries more loosely rather than trying to stick to the books scene-by-scene.
The feel would be quite gritty, rather than the cartoon-like feel of the most recent series.
I'm a huge fan of the Adrian Mole books. I love them and have read them all numerous times.
However, I think that the TV adaptations have been weak. Their direction has been predictable and stolid.
I was too young to appreciate the first adaptation when it originally aired, but have been catching up on YouTube. First part here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPaDlOsAsGs
My issues with the first series are that the pacing is wrong, the scenes are incoherent, and the lead actor isn't good enough to carry the role. This was also the case with the second series. The more recent series with Stephen Mangan hit the wrong tone entirely. It was too glossy and twee.
So this is what I'd do. I would keep Stephen Mangan and Julie Walters in their roles, but re-boot the series. The concept would be that the present-day Adrian finds and re-reads his old diaries from the start. Therefore, Stephen Mangan would be doing the voiceover, and could deliver the killer lines from the old books.
The flashback scenes from the 80s would be portrayed in a naturalistic way, but with fast cutting. They would be shot from a child's perspective, much like the old episodes of Grange Hill were. The events in the series would follow the diaries more loosely rather than trying to stick to the books scene-by-scene.
The feel would be quite gritty, rather than the cartoon-like feel of the most recent series.
0
Comments
Who do you think should play Adrian? (Probably an unknown for the young version, unless anyone springs to mind?)
Which actors would be good in the other roles?
Elanor: snap!
I'd like it
So that's a happy audience of one person already!
I've never been impressed with any of the adaptations. None have really captured the books for me.
Early eighties? The series started in 1985!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Diary_of_Adrian_Mole_%28TV_series%29#Series_1
Eighties looks rather drab.
i think your idea is strong, i would certainly watch it. stephen mangan is a great actor and could pull off adrian really well.
But the diary starts in 1981.
I thought they meant when the TV series started.
I'd say so! The BBC broadcast an eighties season just last year. Recent history in general is a pretty popular setting - different enough to be interesting and to stand out on TV, familiar enough to be relatable.