Parading on the BBC

Parade's End Coming to the BBC

 An article from The Guardian and a blurb in The Times - both from earlier this year - reveal that the screenwriter and playwright Tom Stoppard (pictured) is currently working on an adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End to be shown on the BBC.

The Times states that Ford's quadrilogy will be split over five parts, The Guardian says it will be six.  I guess which one you believe might be down to your own political swaying.  Either way, much content will have to be cut out to fit in with the TV format.

For example, the majority of Parade's End is focalized through the eyes and minds of the characters who populate Ford's complex narrative and this is difficult to recreate on screen.  One of the consequences of Ford's approach is a fractured timeline where the narrative constantly shifts back and forth in time as the characters' contemplate the past while situated in the present events of the story.

What we may well see is a more straightforward approach - the end result becoming a social and historical period drama with events unfolding either in chronological order or with information filled in via flashbacks.

Whatever the outcome, I look forward to viewing the end results but can't help thinking that much of the complex psychological content of the novels will be lost in translation.  That said, it is good to see the First World War being given some screen time instead of being overlooked in favour of its younger (and somewhat Americanized) brother.