BBC One's adaptation of DH Lawrence's classic Lady Chatterley's Lover has sparked speculation over its sex scenes before it even airs.
The latest screen incarnation of the 1928 novel about an aristocratic woman's affair with a lowly gamekeeper stars The Borgias' Holliday Grainger as Lady Chatterley, Happy Valley's James Norton as her husband, Clifford, and Scots Game Of Thrones star Richard Madden as her lover, Oliver Mellors.
The dramatisation, which will be shown after 9pm on Sunday, has been branded "the new Poldark" thanks to images of a bare-chested Madden in the trailer and is sure to set pulses racing.
"People have sex," Norton told Radio Times. "In 2015 we are no longer shocked by this, and we are no longer shocked that people in books also have sex."
Following publication of the full version of Lawrence's work, Penguin Books was tried under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 for frequent use of the word "f***" and its derivatives. The jury found for Penguin Books and since then Lady Chatterley's Lover has enjoyed an infamy which remains just as potent today.
In addition to directing duties, Line Of Duty's Jed Mercurio also wrote the new adaptation, which presents a more rounded picture of Lady Chatterley's husband.
"Clifford goes off to war and receives this terrible injury that prevents him having sex. In the book, he's quite stuffy and set up to be despised, but in our version his snobbery is qualified by his being a young man who is a victim," observes Norton.
"Clifford suffers horribly from the fact that he's unable to satisfy his wife. It's alluded to in the book, but our story slightly pulls the curtains back on that. You see him in bed with Constance and he's feeling totally emasculated."
Mercurio's script takes pains to make the viewer understand why Lady Chatterley has her affair.
The Grantchester actor adds: "All three characters are sympathetic. They're just three young, relatively naive people, each of them trying to do the right thing."
Norton believes television versions of literary classics can appeal to today's young people who are more likely to enjoy reading updates on Facebook.
"TV adaptations have a real role to play here. I'm not suggesting Lady Chatterley's Lover as ideal children's viewing, but if we make classic stories relevant maybe that will encourage everyone to go back to the original text."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel