Hebden Bridge Web

Adapting a novel for TV

Speaker: Louise Doughty

The Autumn and Winter programme of Hebden Bridge Literary & Scientific Society continued on Saturday November 12th with its second lecture of the season, when novelist and TV dramatist Louise Doughty was the guest speaker.

Louise is the author of a string of successful novels, including the best-selling Apple Tree Yard which tells the story of a successful middle-aged professional woman who, after an affair, finds herself in the dock at the Old Bailey on a very serious charge. The book's central theme, Louise told her Hebden Bridge audience, came to her very suddenly late one night, and unusually she wrote the opening pages very rapidly.  The novel was later adapted as a series for the BBC, following a competitive auction for the rights.  

Louise is also the author of the TV series Crossfire, which was shown earlier this year on BBC1 and where she wrote the TV script herself.

Louise described the process by which a novel is adapted to the very different medium of television by reading a section of the opening prologue of the novel and then showing the opening sequence of the TV adaptation, showing the very different way that narrative is communicated in the two mediums.

Louise's presentation was followed by a lively Q&A from the Town Hall audience.