BritBox is one of my “good” vices. It’s harmless. It’s healthy. It’s highly economical. For less than a cappuccino and a scone (monthly $6.99; special annual fee $69.99), I get endless hours of entertainment from which I can choose a sitcom, detective drama, mystery, documentary, and much more set in an urban community to the countryside and all over the Commonwealth.
BritBox offers many programs that are actually based on novels which has sparked my interest in engaging with the author’s original vision of the characters, the setting, and the plot. From Robert Thorogood’s Death in Paradise to James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small from Ellis Peter’s Cadfael Mysteries to Georges Simenon’s Maigret from Nicholas Rhea’s Constable series (Heartbeat) and of course, not to mention all things Agatha Christie to Shakespeare, BritBox brings to the screen an excellent cast, beautiful settings, and stories that have you coming back for more…more is checking out the books! One author whose work is iconic in any form is Ann Cleeves.
BritBox, to me, is synonymous for "binging." With the variety of mini-series or multiple-season programs from comedies to dramas to mysteries, it is marvelous that BritBox provides them in bunches or all at once. No waiting. I can start at the beginning and in an afternoon, over the weekend, or all month long I can enjoy a few laughs, a few sighs, or a cringe or two.
As we know, translation from the page to the stage is problematic. We readers are notorious for our loyalty to the ‘mise en scene’ in our heads, not to mention ideas about everything else from the characters’ appearances to following the books’ plots to the letter. Some novels are an easier go-to script because they are written with the object of production in mind and read almost like a screenplay already. However, this was not the case with the Shetland novels of Ann Cleeves.
