Bookish Small Screen Viewing

It’s the long overdue and welcome (I hope) return of my Bookish Small Screen Viewing series. For those of you who have missed my preview posts, this is where I share my brief thoughts on adaptations of books that I’ve been watching. You can catch my previous posts by searching for Bookish Small Screen Viewing.

As many of you know, I’ve had a couple of weeks of post operation recuperation so I’ve taken the opportunity to catch up on some TV watching. So today I’m sharing my thoughts on a film and two series that I’ve caught.

The School For Good And Evil

First up is the Netflix adaptation of Soman Chainani’s The School For Good And Evil, the first in a children’s series of the same name.

So the schools in this story train teens to either be the male heroes, princesses or villains of fairy stories. The schools believe that to be at the good school, you must be totally and utterly 100% good – there is no room for bad thoughts or actions. So our two main characters Sophie and Agatha must learn to live in the schools neither believes they were intended for and find a way out of their predicaments.

With some big names playing the adults in this fairytale style story, it’s an enjoyable light hearted family watch. Charlize Theron plays an excellent head of the School for Bad with her Good counterpart Kerry Washington playing an OTT sickly sweet princess trainer. Cate Blanchett’s dulcet tones narrate the story brilliantly.

Lockwood & Co.

Next up is another Netflix adaptation in the form of a six series – Lockwood & Co based on the first two novels in the series by Jonathan Stroud.

The premise of this series is the world is experiencing a significant increase in paranormal incidents and the young are more sensitive to tracking and capturing the ghosts. Lockwood & Co is a slightly unorthodox outfit in this field but the trio are one hell of a team.

I really enjoyed this series. It’s not been highly advertised by Netflix but don’t let this lack of visibility put you off. It’s very dark with bubbles of lightheartedness. The banter between the trio is great. I really hope this is renewed and I may have to invest in the books even though it’s not really my normal genre.

The Gold

I may be stretching things here. This BBC drama isn’t not exactly an adaptation. The guy who wrote this series was also involved in the book; however, which came first?! The series or the book? Anyhow…..

This is the dramatisation of the story of the Brinks Mat robbery back in 1983 when 3 tonnes of gold worth £26 million (in 1983, closer to £100 million now) was stolen from a secure unit in Heathrow, London.

The retro 80s look, feel, everything really worked for me. I don’t really remember the robbery at the time given I was a little whipper snapper. Watching this was an eye opener into such a massive heist and its fallout. I really enjoyed this true crime dramatisation even if certain elements and individuals have been tweaked. As the opening credits suggest, if you’ve bought anything gold since 1984, you’re likely to have some of the remnants of the heist…

So have you seen any of these adaptations? What did you think of them?

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