Mapp & Lucia (2014)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I'm a bit late in the day, having only just seen part of the 2014 series on the Freeview Drama channel. I'm afraid this was inferior to the 1980s version...but that had the advantage of 10 episodes. Three episodes means compression - and that usually means distortion. Sorry to say, this 2014 version completely missed the books' flavour which was so well caught in the earlier series.I was puzzled by some changes: for example, on the page and in the earlier version Irene Coles is an impoverished artist who, for part of the time, lives in a shack; in the three-parter she is as expensively dressed as the object of her (made explicit) affection. The books are not hard to find, so do please read them: you will find them a constant source of pleasure.

I think I know my "Benson(and Holt etc)".I watched this entertaining contemporary take on Lucia's progress with great interest.Longitudinally,Mapp is Lucia's nemesis.What ever is going on in Lucia's busy social life there is always an awful possibility Mapp will pop up.She,well,is not a nice person.One thing I'd like to suggest to the makers of this current series,your production is absolutely sumptuous with fine views of Rye and environs,please don't truncate stories to fit time slots.Two tales ought never be abridged,"War and Peace" and "Mapp & Lucia". That said,there is now surely enough written material to make a longer series than "Downton Abbey"!

It is inevitable that there will be comparisons with the earlier 1980's production and I agree that some of them are justifiably unfavourable and many would agree that the cast of McEwan/Scales/Hawthorn etc. was a tough act to follow.However I think it is unfair to compare the two as its often the case that we deem subsequent productions of any TV show or movie to be inferior to the original because we form our opinions on the first one that we see. It would be interesting to get a consensus of reviews for the new series from people who have never seen the original to see what they thought without being influenced by it.I've read the books several times and also have the original series on a set of DVD's but still enjoyed this new series. Having said that I did find some of the acting a little unconvincing at first but I felt this did improve as it progressed. I also thought that bringing in the Guru (from a prior time in the book) was a great mistake but then it was nice that the vicar's wife 'Evie' was included as she was omitted in the original. Many things in the book were not included in the first series which ran for ten episodes so it was always going to be difficult to do justice to the book in just three episodes, although perhaps there will be further episodes if this series is successful.Hopefully the new production will introduce E.F.Benson's Mapp and Lucia to a wider audience who may then read the books and view the original series.

This production goes down as one of the worst adaptations I have ever seen. I would urge all those who have given it positive reviews to read E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia books, and ask themselves which is the more potent and skilfully crafted version, Benson's original, or the current BBC version. I think it would also help to compare the current version with the one produced by LWT in 1985.The 1985 adaptation of the final three books kept faith, on the whole, with the original masterpieces, although some of the material - and subtlety - had to be left out, presumably due to dramatic and time constraints.The 2014 offering consisted of a mishmash of threads drawn not only from the later novels set in Tilling, but also from the first one, set in Riseholme. I really can't see the point of transplanting the guru/curry cook from an earlier Riseholme story into a much later one, set in a completely different location, with different characters (apart from Lucia and Georgie). Sadly it seems to be all too fashionable these days to distort the original material to such an extent that the result becomes almost meaningless.However, I also take issue with the quality of acting in the 2014 version. I usually admire Anna Chancellor's work, but her 'take' on Lucia I found unconvincing; it was rather two-dimensional, and paled in comparison with Geraldine McEwan's and Benson's creations. Steve Pemberton's portrayal of Georgie I found quite insipid and shallow - a charge I would level at nearly all the cast. The worst disappointment, though, was Miranda Richardson. Her representation of Elizabeth Mapp I found to be quite ridiculous, and often embarrassingly over-acted to the point of farce. I am puzzled as to how she could possibly interpret such a skilfully drawn character in this clownish way? All in all, here was a missed opportunity, and, dare I say, a waste of money. To my mind, this is a classic example of 'dumb-down TV'.