Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - 6 Hour BBC Miniseries!

[Alatar]

I'm sure I'm not the only one excited about this! Voronwë?

British public broadcaster BBC One has ordered a raft of new series including a number of big-budget dramas.

The network has ordered Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell, The 7.39 and The Game as well as new sitcom Father Figure. Other new additions to the network’s 2013 schedule include primetime documentary series The Prisoners And Life-Savers and formats Richard Hammond’s Secret Service and Britain’s Brightest.

Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell is a 6x1hour drama based on Susanna Clarke’s novel and adapted by Peter Harness. It is set during the Napoleonic Wars where magic once existed. The series is produced by Boy A producer Cuba, the production arm of literary and talent agency Curtis Brown in association with Feel Film and Farmoor.

The 7.39 is a two-part romantic drama about two people falling in love on their regular morning commute. It is produced by NBC Universal-owned Carnival Films and is written by One Day’s David Nicholls.

The Game is a Cold War spy thriller set in the world of 1970s espionage. It was created and written by Being Human’s Toby Whitehouse and is produced by BBC Cymru Wales.

Meanwhile, family comedy Father Figure was written by and stars comedian Jason Bryne. It was produced in house by BBC Production.

“The job of running BBC One is all about making television audiences love, both in terms of new programmes and maintaining the vibrancy and creativity of our longer running shows,” said BBC One controller Danny Cohen. “I aim to keep raising the stakes with our drama output on BBC One. Ben Stephenson and I are committed to finding pieces with great ambition, quality writing and memorable performances which portray a captivating range of fictional worlds and landscapes. We aim to keep working with Britain’s very best writers, actors and directors.”

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That is super news! I know for a few years there was talk of a feature film by New Line, but I always considered that impossible. A mini-series, if it is well done, is the best option by far. What do we know about Peter Harness, anything?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Not too much additional information, but this geek gal has some interesting cast suggestions:

http://www.themarysue.com/jonathan-stra ... iniseries/

[Alatar]

And here's the first teaser clip!

[Impenitent]

Oooooh! This is very exciting! I do hope the ABC snaps it up for Oz quickly!

[Passdagas the Brown]

Yes! Thanks for the heads up, Al. This is almost as exciting as the news that HBO will be doing Asimov's "Foundation" series.

[Frelga]

This may just possibly the screen adaptation that I will enjoy more than I did the book.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Very excited about this, but what is that about Foundation? Wow!

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Sent from my LG G3 using tapatalk

[Inanna]

Oh I am so excited!!


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Please bear with my typos & grammar mistakes. Sent from my iPhone - Palantirs make mistakes too.

[Alatar]

New trailer!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Cool!

[Lalaith]

That looks kind of cool.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm glad it is a 6 hour mini series instead of a 2 or 3 hour movie, but even that is probably too short for a book as long and as dense as LOTR.

[Inanna]

When will it air? And any news on airing in the US?


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Please bear with my typos & grammar mistakes. Sent from my iPhone - Palantirs make mistakes too.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Don't know, and don't know. I'm sure that I will be watching it on Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime some time. And that is all that matters to me.

[Primula Baggins]

Maybe watching this will finally give me the key to reading the book, which I've bounced off of several times despite having more than one friend with great literary judgment who loved it. I even bought it for Kindle in hopes that would do it. Nope.

[yovargas]

(Be comforted by knowing that you also have at least one one friend with great literary judgment who distinctly did not love it. )

[Primula Baggins]

We should build a Sekrit Klubhouse.

Though I've certainly had the experience of ending up loving a book I initially bounced off of, which is why I said I hoped watching the show might give me the key. That certainly happened with Jane Austen, back when I was a lot younger.

[Impenitent]

Alatar, when does it begin in the UK? Our ABC usually picks up literary series for the next season.

[Alatar]

The only thing I can find is a vague "this may" and another reference to the fact that "coming soon" is BBC speak for about 2 weeks. So Mid-May maybe?