Balloon debate: what’s the best screen adaptation of a book?

Partners:

This year, the Battle of Ideas Balloon Debate tackles the best ever TV or film adaptation.

Six participants will argue for their choice in a light-hearted debate with a serious intent. Audience participation encourages you to agree, disagree, challenge, assess… and dismiss those arguments and adaptations that you find unworthy to wear the crown.

The panel will have a few minutes only to convince you of their choice. Would Jane Austen have seen Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy in a dripping shirt as a suitable heir? Or would she have preferred Alicia Silverstone’s Clueless teen? Did Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now adapt the original material, or simply use them as inspiration? Was A Handmaid’s Tale more or less terrifying when confined to the pages of Margaret Atwood’s novel? And do you agree with the Wall Street Journal, that the latest adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations ‘belches out the problems of literary adaptation with the dyspeptic regularity of a coal-fired Victorian ironworks’ ?

The discussion allows just five minutes for each panellist’s defence before you, the audience, take them to task. You can challenge or reinforce their choice. The audience then votes to chuck three contenders out of the virtual balloon before the remaining candidates make a final plea for your vote. Come along, and make history.