The best vlog reinventions of classic books

People may sniff, but the best of these Generation Y re-tellings bring the writing of the past back to vivid life

Judging by the reactions to Zoe Suggs’ and Alfie Deyes’ rising stars, vlogs are the end of civilisation as we know it and – like Zoella’s ghostwritten novel – they certainly don’t have any place in literature. But fresh-faced teens and twentysomethings aren’t only vlogging about their own lives; they’re dressing up as fictional characters and telling modern reworkings of familiar stories into their webcams as YouTube adaptations of classic novels go viral. The teams behind them may be professional actors or simply fans of the books, and the quality of both scripts and production can vary, but at their best they could give the BBC a run for its money.

The most successful of these is The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, the award-winning 2012 series that turns Austen’s heroine into a grad student and Darcy into a hipster entrepreneur. The days of lingering closeups of Colin Firth emerging dripping wet from a lake are behind us – now such images are more likely to be uploaded to Instagram by one of the characters. And this 21st-century reworking eschewed Lydia’s elopement for that most modern of scandals, a leaked sex tape.

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