So, the last time that I made use of the From Book to Film title I was awaiting what turned out to be a very disappointing adaptation of the first Artemis Fowl novel which fell spectacularly short of the wit and pace of the source material. This time, however, we are diving into the world created by Deborah Harkness in ‘A Discovery of Witches’ and comparing it to the Bad Wolf and Sky original TV series of the same name. I’m aiming to keep this short and sweet and so “It begins with a discovery of witches.”
So the book series is very much written from the main character, Diana’s, perspective and rather than being aware of the events about to unfold, we learn of them as Diana does. This is the first major difference between the book and the TV series, the story is told as a third person narrative in the TV series and creates a bit more tension as you await the arrival of side characters into the main plot. The TV series has the freedom to jump from plot to sub plot and character to side character freely and the knowledge gained from these additional scenes creates side characters with more depth and back story. We are shown rather than told the going ons of the Congregation and other minor characters and then their involvement in the central plot becomes clear as the story progresses. A prime example of this is the early introduction of Juliette Durand which gives the audience her back story well in advance and leaves them waiting to see what her role in the central story is while her back story remains the same as the explanation that Diana receives in the book after their encounter. This is an excellent conversion from book to film because it limits the facts that we are told and rather allows the characters actions to tell the story instead.
Other than a few minor changes to small details that really don’t influence the plot at all Sky created a world that felt very much lived in and real with characters who seem to be just a little bit different. It is by far the most realistic inclusion of vampires, witches and deamons in a live action series that I’ve seen in a while and a lot of that comes down to Harkness’ writing style. Gone are the pointed fangs and deathly paleness of the vampiric apex predator, the point of being an apex predator is to blend in and hunt, not stand out. The casting of our vampires was impeccable. We have the loveable baby of the group Marcus Whitmore, who is very much the idealist, and brought to life by Edward Bluemel. The no nonsense Miriam Shepherd who seems very much done with Matthew and his escapades played brilliantly by Aiysha Hart. And our leading man, Matthew Clairmont, who has all of the same qualities as Book Matthew that draw you in, played by Matthew Goode. From these three acting choices alone, it was clear that great care was put into choosing the right person for each role and with the likes of Alex Kingston and Lindsay Duncan, as Sarah Bishop and Ysabeau de Clermont respectively, even characters who don’t appear in every episode are still well cast to suit their roles in the story.
The final thing I want to discuss is our leading lady, Diana Bishop, who Teresa Palmer portrays wonderfully. Palmer gives us the perfect balance of reluctant fish out of water Diana in a world of supernatural beings where she is essentially clueless while also grasping for some semblance of control over her life and powers. Diana is, in both the book and TV series, a very strong willed, independent woman and this character is more a testament to Harkness’ writing than the TV show. Diana rarely, if ever, becomes the whiny damsel in distress plot device that is so common in supernatural romances. Does she end up in danger? Yes. Does she need a man to rescue her? Partially sometimes. I won’t give any more details for fear of spoiling some plot points but Diana can rescue herself sometimes and fights her own battles. Diana as a TV character is more self assured and it’s clear without looking at the credits that Deborah Harkness was greatly involved in the creation of the series.
Overall, I think Bad Wolf and Sky deserves a lot of props for being so faithful to their source material and really sticking the landing on what could have gone horribly wrong if done incorrectly. It was good to see that Deborah Harkness appeared as an Executive Producer so that the crew, directors and all involved had a good starting point when it came to the plot, characters and character motivations. However, I feel had this series been made into a movie the end result would have been very different so I’m very thankful that Sky took the chance on this rather than a film studio looking for their next big franchise.
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