MEMOIR ADAPTATION IS TRICKY, indeed, the assignment being nothing less than inhabiting someone else’s life and getting it right. Sometimes they are spot-on perfect, of course. Such is the case with one of my favorite television series.
If you’ve seen the PBS series, Call the Midwife, you know what I mean. Written by Heidi Thomas and based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, in its many seasons, the show loses nothing of the power and delight of its premier run.
I’m fascinated with adaptations, never more so than with this transposition from a trio of best-selling books by the late Worth into a work for the small screen. Beautifully rendered, alternately provocative, informative and absolutely entertaining, I welcome the series about midwives of 1950s East End London into my home each week with a sense of friendship and delight.
Don’t know the midwives? Here’s the link.
Know it and want more? I’m your girl. Here is an interview with Jennifer Worth. And here’s her obit, as well as an interview with her daughters.
Interested in memoir adaptation? Heidi Thomas is a master, having previously written Cranford, one of my other favorite PBS series. If, like me, you love her work, you’ll adore this insider’s look into how she does it.
Enjoy.
Elissa says
Yup – we’re hooked too!