Adaptations

For the last few weeks at Casa Eyre, the missus and I have been indulging in a rare televisual treat. I've long been a fan of Jake Arnott, the bisexual crime writer, and ever since I'd learned there was an adaptation of his first- and best- book, The Long Firm, I've been gagging to see it. You can imagine my shrieks of joy when it started appearing on Wednesday evenings!

The Long Firm is essentially a period piece. Taking the form of five short stories, it introduces us to five different characters and their experiences of Harry Starks, a self styled "businessman" with a taste for rent boys, torture and Judy Garland. Harry is a fully fleshed out creation, funny and frightening, awe inspiring and pitiful by turns. Underestimate him, his intelligence and his seemingly fathomless capacity for violence at your peril.

I'm delighted to say that the book has been rewarded with a pitch perfect adaptation. From casting to period dinge, every last detail is right. Since so much of the saga rests upon Harry, they needed an extraordinary actor, and in Mark Strong they have the real deal. It's this performance that established him as an A list talent and you can see why: he can make you quake and make you cry, sometimes within the same scene. You sense the loneliness of the man, how he'd love to be more than a thug, but he's trapped in a era that had no time for gays or Jews.

With Strong's example before them, the cast have no choice but to up their game. They've split the book into four episodes, shedding the weakest of the stories, meaning that each one focuses on that character's story. So far we've seen Derek Jacobi as Lord Thursby, the world's sleaziest ex MP; Lena Headey as Ruby Ryder, a blonde sex kitten in the Diana Dors mould, and Phil Daniels as Jimmy, a drug dealing scuzzball who's the nearest Harry has to a friend. A recurring figure throughout is Inspector Mooney, a bent copper played by George Costigan; you always want to have a wash after one of his scenes!

Various plot points have been cut, adapted or merged: for example, the red hot poker scene from the first story has been carried across to Jimmy's (very effectively too), and, rather than an interchangeable series of pretty blond boys, we meet only one of Harry's lovers, the unhappy and ultimately tragic Tommy. While I miss the presence of the Krays, every other change is for the best, tightening the story and making it work better as drama.

Adaptations can be a mixed blessing. When they get it right, as they do here, they attract new fans as well as making old ones want to go back and re-read the book. Yet fandom can be a highly critical place: the old hands are often condescending and snobbish to the newcomers, especially if they enjoy the adaptation but don't want to read the original (old school Holmesians vs Sherlock fans spring to mind). If you're a die hard fan, there's always the worry that this version of the story will supplant the 'proper' one- for example, can anybody think of Wolverine and Iron Man without thinking of Hugh Jackman and Robert Downey Junior?

Poor adaptations are even worse. There's the amusement from your friends ("You're into that?") and the book being written off as tripe by all and sundry, even critics who should know better. They might even discourage directors from having another go ("Oh, that last one was box office poison"), never mind that it was the film rather than the source text that was at fault. And of course everybody has their favourite version- my favourite Holmes and Watson are Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke, who I'd defend to the death, yet fans are equally enamoured of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman or Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law.

Sometimes it can go too far. Robert Pattinson is rumoured to be petrified by Twilight fans who can't seem to distinguish him from Edward Cullen. When the Tintin film came out, you had fans caterwauling as though somebody had been murdered. When it comes to this, people really need to step back and gain a sense of perspective.

I love Tintin. It's probably my favourite series of all time, helping me get through some of the lowest points of my life. If I want a laugh, I think about the Captain drinking whisky in zero gravity, or the evil arch villain Rastapopoulos turning up in a garish pink cowboy outfit. If I ever went on Mastermind, it'd be my special subject.

Did I go into meltdown because the film wasn't all it could be? Not a bit. Yes, it was disappointing, but that's only one person's vision of Tintin. It doesn't alter the fact that the books are just as fresh, funny and wonderful as when they were first drawn.

So next time a mediocre adaptation appears, don't freak out. Go back to the source and remember why you love it so much in the first place.