The first episode of The Rotters’ Club was on BBC2 last night and it was, as I suspected, a disappointment.
ono No Komachi and amner discuss it on Palimpsest here – I’ll add my thoughts from here to there when I get home – still problems with posting to Palimpsest at work, worse luck.
I agreee with amner’s point – how can they do this in three one-hour episodes? It is too fragmented, the storyline jumping about all over the place. The book does this, but of course in reading it you take a lot longer than 3 hours. TRC is a story to be savoured, with details and plots drawn out slowly. The TV show blattered the viewer with detail after detail, the comedic elements coming too fast after the moments of pathos. The jump from Ben Trotter successfully praying for a air of swiming trunks is funny, but suddenly he is attending church without a proper explaination.
I think the series will have a few funny set-pieces, largely those which have been lifted straight from the book, but that the rest of it will be a rather confusing experience for anyone who hasn’t read the book.