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Granada's critically acclaimed dramatisation of Charles Dickens' Hard Times
(ITV, 1977) paved the way for its hugely successful literary dramas Brideshead
Revisited (ITV, 1981) and The Jewel in the Crown (ITV, 1984), and its Sherlock
Holmes mysteries (ITV, 1984-94) starring Jeremy Brett.
Originally published in weekly instalments in 1854, Hard Times tells the
story of Thomas Gradgrind and his dutiful daughter Louisa against the backdrop
of the industrial north in the fictional Coketown, partly modelled on
Manchester, where the serial was filmed (using the old railway yard behind
Granada's studios).
The four-part adaptation by Arthur Hopcraft is streamlined but generally very
faithful to the book and, as directed by John Irvin, the serial is presented
with considerable panache, as was the case when the two collaborated again on
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (BBC, 1979). Although large chunks of Dickens'
dialogue remain intact, Hopcraft was inevitably forced to prune the text quite
considerably. As a result, Mrs Gradgrind's role is reduced (although her
celebrated death-bed scene remains), while some characters were removed entirely
(such as Bitzer and Gradgrind's two youngest children). This sadly also extends
to Bounderby's mother, whose appearance in the novel reveals that his repeated
sermons about his harsh upbringing are largely a fabrication.
Hopcraft's adaptation foregrounds Dickens' themes of mechanisation and
depersonalisation set against the pull towards an interior landscape of feelings
and imagination. This conflict is articulated on screen through a series of
contrasts, beginning with the arrival of the travelling circus, which
exemplifies the world of 'fancy' and creativity, as it passes outside
Gradgrind's school, where children are taught that only facts have merit. This
contrast is then starkly emphasised when Sissy has to decide whether to stay
with her extended circus family or to leave it for the sake of an education.
This finds a powerful echo when, in the concluding episode, Tom joins the circus
to evade the authorities.
Malcolm Arnold's theme music, full of foreboding and appropriately scored for
brass, matches the atmospheric cinematography by Ray Goode, both complementing
Irvin's incisive yet understated direction. His handling of the cast is
exemplary, with Alan Dobie and Timothy West predictably fine as the dour
Blackpool and the ludicrous Bounderby respectively. Patrick Allen, however, is a
revelation as Gradgrind, utterly convincing as a man deeply in the sway of
Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianist world-view, who eventually finds that family
love outweighs his beliefs in social engineering.
Sergio Angelini
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1. Facts and nothing else (3:40)
