Were you one of the many people who struggled to hear the dialogue in the new BBC adaptation of Jamaica Inn? Apparently people were thinking that they must be going deaf, but we didn’t hink that because it isn’t the first time that we’ve had trouble hearing things on TV. I don’t think it’s anything to do with the sound engineers, it’s just that some actors are rotten at speaking, how they get the parts is beyond me. You would think that being able to make yourself heard would be the least that could be expected of an actor. Lots of people ended up switching on the subtitles to understand what was going on.
But apart from that I think that the whole thing was just very disappointing. I read Jamaica Inn as a 13 year old and again some 20 years later, so it’s a good long while since I read it but I do know that the BBC failed to conjure up the dramatic and dangerous atmosphere of the book. Then for some reason they chose to film a lot of it in the Lake District rather than Cornwall and the two places are not really alike. It’s as if someone just said – one patch of green is much like any other – which just isn’t true.
The character of Uncle Joss just bore no resemblance to the one in the book and the fact that you couldn’t hear what he was mumbling meant that there was no way that he was going to be able to act his way into being more like the character which Daphne du Maurier wrote.
All in all I was very disappointed by the whole thing and I just feel that I’ll have to re-read the book to get a proper dose of du Maurier. But was I one of the 800 or so people who contacted the BBC to complain? – I hear you ask. Well, no I didn’t think to complain, I just moaned at Jack and he mumped back, but we were more audible than any of those actors.
I think I am going to skip watching it then. Thanks for the heads up! Watched the episode on the Mckay Bennett cable layer ship on clydebuilt tonight. Awesome show!
Peggy Ann,
It’s an interesting series, we were amused that the ‘Yank’ kept calling it Mackie Bennett. You must have seen the one with Dumbarton in it already then.
I didn’t even bother to watch it as I’ve been so disappointed before by TV dramatisations of books I love. But this one seems to have been doomed by the acting and production rather than a mangling of the plot.
Margaret,
You are the wise one! They missed out all the bits in the book which gave it the dramatic atmosphere though, sometimes I wonder if they have actually read the book and not just the often dubious blurb on the back of books.
I thought it was me initially, because I was knitting at the same time. Turns out it was not me, but thousands of people.
It was a shame because it had the potential to be a great BBC Drama and they have failed. Joss was nothing like the character portrayed, who I envisaged to be a giant of a man. There was no sister of Francis Davey in the book, though I did think the actress played an imagined part well, she always plays those characters mind. And I did not think Francis Davey was creepy enough and obviously not an albino on the TV.
As for the mumbling well…..
What disappointed me the most, was those who watched it and knew nothing about the story were put off probably reading that and also any of her other work.
Jo,
I have a feeling that Joss was supposed to be about seven feet tall, strong and dark although I haven’t checked up in the book yet. It seems like it would be a simple enough matter to adapt it for TV but as you say – they failed. I hope it doesn’t put people off from reading her books, but fear that it might.
“Well, no I didn’t think to complain, I just moaned at Jack and he mumped back, but we were more audible than any of those actors.”
ha ha!
Christy,
Next time it happens I’ll definitely be more audible to the BBC because I’ll be one of the ones contacting them to complain! And I bet there is a next time.