Ronald Neame’s 1969 film adaptation of Jay Presson Allen’s play, which in turn was based on Muriel Sparks novel is fantastic. It’s a deceptively cool and subversive 60s masterpiece with a dreamy atmosphere and an Oscar winning performance from Maggie Smith. This TV series was produced ten years later for Scottish TV and by contrast it feels like something you’d watch at school or a Sunday teatime at your grandma’s house.
These seven episodes star future Miss Marple Geraldine McEwan as the Mussolini obsessed teacher who believes she’s inspiring and changing the lives of the girls under her care at an exclusive Edinburgh girls’ school in the 1930s. It differs from the film and the original novel in that it explores the home lives of a different girl in each episode, taking some of the attention away from Miss Brodie herself, although she’s a constant presence in the girls’ lives and thoughts.
In the film the girls were played by actresses in their 20s whereas here they’re portrayed by child actors. This does make for some slightly uncomfortable viewing when they’re discussing some fairly adult issues but they’re all pretty good in their roles, as evidenced by the fact that some of them are still working today.
There are some interesting and successful additions to the plot, such as an Italian refugee family that directly cause Brodie to question her support for Il Duce. The plot meanders at a leisurely pace and it does feel like you’re watching the first few episodes of an ongoing soap. That’s not the case though and these seven episodes were all there was ever meant to be, although the last episode doesn’t really wrap the plot up satisfactorily.
Like most STV shows produced in the 70s and 80s it looks desperately cheap. It’s shot on video with incredibly stagey lighting and the outdoor scenes shot in Edinburgh look like an outside news broadcast, especially compared with the exquisite cinematography of the film version. Ultimately though it’s unfair to compare the two, although they both take the novel as their inspiration they follow different paths and both can be enjoyed in different ways.
Overall Verdict: It’s severely dated both in terms of its production values and its slow pace and it’s not a patch on the 1969 film but it’s still a well acted, thought provoking drama.
Special Features:
Dame Muriel Spark on Miss Jean Brodie.
Reviewer: Adam Pidgeon