Tag Archives: The Borrowers

Easter TV: animation, films, crucifixion and Noel Edmonds

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At Easter other than eating chocolate no one is quite sure what you are supposed to be doing. The shops are shut, the chocolate eggs are gone so why not give into temptation and relax in front of the television.

Bank Holiday weekend classics are out in full force as Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out is on BBC One at 2.45. The first adventure for the animated pals originally came out in 1989 and seems simple in comparison to their latest film but it is still marvellous and definitely worth a watch. To add to that The Wrong Trousers is on BBC One on Monday at 4pm and A Close Shave is on BBC Three on Monday at 7pm. If you want more Aardman animations then Flushed Away is also on telly on Monday, BBC One at 2.40pm.

This holiday is also a good opportunity to enjoy a movie. There doesn’t seem to be any premieres this Easter but there are some good classics. The best kids movies are Toy Story on Channel 5, Sunday at 5pm, as well as Antz on Monday, BBC One at 1.25pm and Mary Poppins is on Monday, BBC One at 3.10pm. There is also a healthy sprinkling of the Shrek movies across the next few days as well as one of my favourite films The Borrowers. It is on ITV2 on Monday at 4.45pm, it is an odd American adaptation but has some great performances and keeps the fun and adventure of the books.

If you fancy something more grown up then some good films over the weekend are Strictly Ballroom on BBC Four, Sunday at 9pm and Yesterday is showing Cold Comfort Farm at 4pm on Monday.

A gory recommendation is for Channel 4′s Crucifixion which is on Sunday at 10pm. It follows anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens, who has been on Channel 4 before cutting people up and showcasing their innards. The programme explores how the crucifixion has been depicted including Dr Gunther’s own work, which has taken six years to create, and includes his own interpretation which uses donated body parts and has been put up in his own back garden. Although it sounds freaky Dr Gunther is an interesting man and likes experimenting with body parts but is strangely respectful about it.

And a final recommendation for Deal or No Deal. As Channel 4 says themselves, they have brought Jimmy Carr to one of the few shows he hasn’t appeared on as Noel Edmonds hosts a special celebrity version of the programme on Channel 4, Sunday at 8pm.

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The Borrowers missed the mark

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One of the Christmas offerings from the BBC this year was The Borrowers, a modern adaptation of the Mary Norton classic.

Although it is a well-known story it hasn’t been adapted for the screen many times. It was made into a film in the 1970s and once again in the 1990s, and more recently an anime version from Studio Ghibli. But the television series of the 1990s with Penelope Wilton and Ian Holm is one of my all time favourite shows, let alone adaptation of The Borrowers, so this new version had a lot to live up to.

There is no doubt that scenes were a very small man treats the humble living room as an assault course all to get one Quality Street for pudding is mesmerising. But after that it just felt weird.

The cast, all good actors, just felt wrong. Christopher Eccleston as Pod saved the borrowers once before and retired before reaching 50. Sharon Horgan as Homily had raised a child begging to join the adult world at 40 and now Victoria Wood is a grandmother to quite a grown up child. All this miscasting of ages made it jar slightly.

And Stephen Fry being evil and lusting after Victoria Wood was strange.

My biggest annoyance about the show was the modernisation of it. As a child I loved Arrietty, she owned a miniature book set and wrote in her diary using a small pencil but to her was one of those inconveniently large pencils.

She acted like a teenager does, wanting to be like her parents and at the same time not. But in this version she wanted a man to call her own and that man should not be her father.

So she stumbles out into the world to find Spiller, who has now become a tearaway (made obvious by the fact that he is wearing a leather jacket) and had set his eyes on Arrietty.

This modern update of the story completely missed the important bit that Spiller was actually a nice person just wild and knew more about the world than Arrietty. They developed a friendship which allowed Arrietty to get to know more about the world rather than just she found a pretty man to kiss.

So I found this Christmas treat completely missed the mark as it just took the originally story at face value and missed the important aspects of growing up and why Arrietty is such a good character, rather than a girl annoyingly screeching at her father about nothing.

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