Birdsong adaptation finally underway
23rd May 2011
An adaptation of Sebastian Faulks' classic World War I novel Birdsong is finally underway, following several failed attempts to convert the book to the screen.
A two-part TV adaptation of the 1993 novel is now being created by the BBC, with Eddie Redmayne playing the role of protagonist Stephen Wraysford and French actress Clemence Poesy as Isabelle Azaire.
Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC drama commissioning, said the corporation is aiming to compete with highly-rated US dramas such as Mad Men and The Wire and will be devoting significant funding towards adapting Birdsong.
'American culture isn't better. It's just different. They have Hollywood. Our inspiration is literature and theatre. I'm really excited about it because it's a big story to tell and I've always felt it would be a brilliant piece of TV,' the Daily Telegraph reports him as saying.
Poesy may be familiar to UK audiences after portraying Fleur Delacour in the Harry Potter films, while Redmayne starred as Angel Clare in the BBC's 2008 TV adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles.