Martin Amis' Money

I don’t know what to say about the BBC’s recent adaptation of Money, apart from that it was brilliant. But as well as being refreshing and engaging to watch it also goes to show I need to re-think what I see as being unsuitable for TV adaptation. I assume a plot needs to be more or less linear, and with a traditional tie up of the story. I see amazing novels that take focus on one a short period of introspection, such as Hanif Kureshi’s Intimacy or On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, as ones that would be boring an lifeless on screen.

Sometimes suspending your disbelief is easier in text, where imagination can run wild and you aren’t so critical of the visible pulleys and levers that mobilise a plot. Recently I’ve been looking into texts that would be suitable for on screen adaptation and disregarded fanciful tales by Angela Carter or Jeanette Winterson (bar the autobiographical Oranges are not the Only Fruit). Maybe I need to reconsider: what makes a text a text unsuitable for screen adaptation?

Amis apparently criticised early drafts of the Money script, suggesting they stick more closely to the original dialogue. A little arrogant, you might think, but if the source material is strong perhaps there’s no reason to meander too far from it.

Money was written by Tom Butterworth and Chris Hurford, both of whom wrote for Ashes to Ashes and Hustle.