The little house

[Jody R]

Oooh! I was in waterstones earlier and I saw the book, so I read a few of the last pages and the ending is different. I didn't read the very last pages just in case I decide to get the book, but I know what happens to the MiL and I actually felt sorry for her and wonder what the DiL was really like.

I think the book will be a lot better than the programme!

 

[PeanutBean]

Just watched the second part and very disappointed. I didn't think there was a question over the MIL's actions. I got all the DIL becoming the mother of the house stuff. I just thought it was cheap and weak rather than good writing. It also turned the whole thing into rather a sexist work. Every woman/mother has the capability to be a loon and wants to rule the roost. Disappointing as the first episode was very good, portrayed reality very well.

On a different note. Anyone know where it was filmed? I went to a wedding in Orford, East Anglia, in the summer and we had to drive through loads of forest that looked just like that in this programme. Plus it's the land of marvellously amazing mansions like the in-laws' house. I just kept wondering what careers they'd had to be so astonishingly wealthy! lol

 

[Jody R]

A press release says on location in Bristol and at Pinewood Studios.

I agree with you, it did feel weak and rushed and I was curious about when the book was written. I should have checked today when I was reading the real ending in Waterstones (also a bit of a let down but still much better than the TV ending).

It's a bit like the recent Bouquet of Barbed Wire, the revelation in that

Spoiler

the Dad had a secret daughter with a woman he was with before he got married but didn't want his girlfriend or child to ruin his career

was really weak now but for the 70's when the book was written it probably was a shocking secret.

 

[PeanutBean]

If the TV writers couldn't improve the ending then they shouldn't have messed with it. Poor show. Will you put the book ending in a spoiler?

 

[Jody R]

Book ending to The Little House

Spoiler

Ruth is told by her FiL that they will be supervising her with the baby until he is old enough to go to school, and I think he intended that school to be a boarding one.

She can't stand the thought of it so she rigs an electric wire up to the pram and parks it at the very end of the strip of grass she was cutting in her garden, then goes inside to hide.

When her MiL arrives she watches to see what she does, deciding that if she goes to the pram first she will click the switch to make the wire live, if she comes in the house first she will accept what her FiL has just said. She keeps saying to herself "it's up to her to decide" if she lives or dies by her actions.

MiL goes straight to the pram and is electocuted, DiL moves the pram, reconnects the wire to the lawnmower and puts the lawnmower in place, then calls for help and lies, saying MiL just decided to take over cutting the grass and got hurt.

I left the last couple of pages unread, just in case I decide to read the book one day, so I don't know if she was caught or got away with it and out of context like that it's hard to know if MiL or DiL or both were crazy and to blame.

It's still far fetched but I prefered it to the TV ending.

 

[PeanutBean]

LOL that's actually even more rubbish!

 

[Jody R]

More rubbish but better rubbish.

And at least the book ending cast a bit of doubt on who the bad one was.

It's strange because Philippa Gregory is meant to write very good historical fiction but her modern fiction seems a bit wobbly.

I'm a 'real ending' stickler, I was really cross when I watched Killing Me Softly from the Nicci French book after reading it and they changed it and added in a whole new character who was pointless. If the book is good enough to make into a tv programme it should be left alone. The people who read the book will prefer it to stay the same and the people who haven't read the book will still be surprised.

Maybe i should start a campaign, like the real ale camra people, CAMRE - The Campaign for Real Endings.

 

[Jody R]

Oooh! one more post to another milestone!

 

[PeanutBean]

I'm like that too. My all time worst TV adaptation is Mansfield Park with Billie Piper.

 

[Jody R]

I'm like that too. My all time worst TV adaptation is Mansfield Park with Billie Piper.

I haven't seen that one but I doubt I want to.

With her in the lead role I'd be waiting for Doctor Who to arrive the entire way through it (I love Doctor Who but can't say I'm a fan of Billie).

 

[PeanutBean]

Do you like Jane Austen? Whilst I agree with many in that Fanny is not a desperately attractive character, they wrote her up to be all mouthy, talking back to Mrs Norris, wearing her hair down and frollicking about the place. Instead of going to Portsmouth the family left her on her own for a short time at Mansfield. Absolute biggest pile of crap ever!

 

[Jody R]

Do you like Jane Austen? Whilst I agree with many in that Fanny is not a desperately attractive character, they wrote her up to be all mouthy, talking back to Mrs Norris, wearing her hair down and frollicking about the place. Instead of going to Portsmouth the family left her on her own for a short time at Mansfield. Absolute biggest pile of crap ever!

That does sound rubbish.

Last year we went to see a production of Emma in the grounds of Fountains Abbey at Ripon. That was really good.

They had just five actors to play all the parts so they changed it slightly and pretended to be a group of different artists and actors putting on the play and used painted portraits to stand in for people whenever there were more than five people needed for a scene or for when two characters had to talk to each other but the same actor was playing both parts.

I can forgive the theatre more than TV though. TV has no excuse.