Andrew Davies was inspired to create a new layer of narrative in his new adaptation of A Room With A View (ITV1 Sunday 4 November) after discovering EM Forster’s rethinking of his story.
“Forster himself wrote a little postscript in 1958, 50 years after writing the book, imagining what might have happened to the characters. He imagined George Emerson visiting Florence after the Second World War, looking for the Bertolini boarding house. That got me thinking and, since it's so much Lucy's story, I imagined Lucy revisiting Florence after the First World War, to recapture her happiest memories. So the whole thing becomes Lucy's memory of that crucial point in her life and it also gives us the opportunity to add a new ending, after the ending in the book.”
Another inspiration that came to Andrew during the writing process was the casting of the Emersons.
He explains: “I'm so pleased with myself for thinking of Tim and Rafe Spall as Mr Emerson and his son George. The idea came to me when I was about halfway through the script when I suddenly realised I was imagining them in the parts as I was writing, and this is something that rarely happens to me. I'd worked with Rafe before - he was brilliant in the Chatterley Affair - and, of course, I had long admired Tim's work and hoped I'd have him in something of mine one day.
We were very lucky to find them both available at the same time. It was a joy to see them together. They'd never worked together before, but they are a very close dad and son, and that comes through so powerfully in the performances.”
“Forster himself wrote a little postscript in 1958, 50 years after writing the book, imagining what might have happened to the characters. He imagined George Emerson visiting Florence after the Second World War, looking for the Bertolini boarding house. That got me thinking and, since it's so much Lucy's story, I imagined Lucy revisiting Florence after the First World War, to recapture her happiest memories. So the whole thing becomes Lucy's memory of that crucial point in her life and it also gives us the opportunity to add a new ending, after the ending in the book.”
Another inspiration that came to Andrew during the writing process was the casting of the Emersons.
He explains: “I'm so pleased with myself for thinking of Tim and Rafe Spall as Mr Emerson and his son George. The idea came to me when I was about halfway through the script when I suddenly realised I was imagining them in the parts as I was writing, and this is something that rarely happens to me. I'd worked with Rafe before - he was brilliant in the Chatterley Affair - and, of course, I had long admired Tim's work and hoped I'd have him in something of mine one day.
We were very lucky to find them both available at the same time. It was a joy to see them together. They'd never worked together before, but they are a very close dad and son, and that comes through so powerfully in the performances.”