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THE BRITISH FILM AND TELEVISION BALL ALEXANDRA PALACE LONDON SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2002
The Studio Alliance proudly hosts the Network Party of the Year. This year’s theme celebrates The Centenary of Ealing Studios, the 50th Anniversary of the National Film Theatre and the 50th Anniversary of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Passports to the Pimlico Party Area include all food and drink, breathtaking attractions and a spectacular celebrity concert on the main stage.
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Davies, of course, is no stranger to controversy. His sexed- up take on some of the classics, particularly the lesbianism in Moll Flanders, has angered a fair slab of middle England and incensed the right-wing press. Now it’s druids who’ve taken offence.
In an interview he gave to the Guardian recently, Davies pon- dered on the “intriguing parallels” between Boudicca’s revolt
against the Romans and the war in present-day Afghanistan.
“In both cases there’s a huge superpower that is trying to quell resistance by the indigenous peo- ple and the resistance is very much focused around fanatical priests,” Davies recalls telling the paper. “I was saying there were parallels between the druids then and the Taliban now and I got some outraged letters from druids.”
But Davies isn’t too bothered about the rows that dog his work. Indeed, he concedes that “it is my fault in a lot of ways”.
The following, he says, is typi- cal. A while ago a journalist asked Davies what he was work- ing on. On being told it was Trollope’s The Way We Live Now, the journalist observed that the book was a bit boring. “No, no it’s really exciting,” Davies remembers telling him. “It’s all about crime in the city and its really sexy.”
Predictably, the journalist wrote: “Davies is introducing sex romps into Trollope”, and the usual media storm ensued. Though, as Davies readily admits: “I have to say all these little slur- ries don’t do any harm to publi- cising the show.”
Photos from left: Andrew Davies; Scenes from The Way We Live Now and Othello; David Suchet in The Way We Live Now
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