Gemma Fraser: Reinvented classics brought to book

Published on Tuesday 18 January 2011 12:44

With new Sherlock Holmes and James Bond novels on the way, Gemma Fraser asks whether it's ever a good idea to revisit a classic

WE thought we had seen the last of their adventures - at least in the written form. The original authors of James Bond and Sherlock Holmes may have died decades ago, but two of the British reading public's favourite authors are hoping to reinvent them for the 21st century.

It may sound like sacrilege to some fans of the secret agent and super-sleuth, but the writers involved are no jobbing hacks struggling to find a trick to get someone to pick up their books.

Anthony Horowitz, who has been chosen by the estate of Edinburgh-born Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write a new full-length Holmes novel, is the man behind the hugely-popular series of Alex Rider teenage spy books.

The new James Bond novel, called Carte Blanche and partly set in the Middle East, is being penned by the US writer Jeffrey Deaver, whose thrillers frequently inhabit the best-sellers lists.

What they are embarking on is a tricky balancing act, as Vanessa Robertson, owner of The Edinburgh Bookshop in Bruntsfield, explains. "There will always be a bit of suspicion when somebody is involved with taking something you love and tweaking it and there might be a bit of resistance, but I think it's a great thing. They will need to bring something new to the story though, but at the same time stay faithful to the original."

The history of remakes is one littered with both classics and turkeys. The fact audiences tend to love or hate them, rather than being indifferent, may be largely down to the emotional connections that so many people form with the originals.

Television

Nostalgia has become a big seller for TV in recent years and the success of Upstairs Downstairs - which attracted seven million viewers over Christmas - will no doubt fuel the trend. The revival of 1980s sci-fi show V - which tells the story of a world living in the shadows of alien spaceships - has won acclaim, but nothing can rival the success of the relaunched Doctor Who, which has won a whole new generation of fans thanks to the creative genius of Russell T Davies and the clever casting of Doctors, including Bathgate-born David Tennant.

But for every success there are plenty of damp squibs, like 90210, the remake of the 1990s American teen drama Beverley Hills, with a specially shortened name for contemporary audiences. And ex-EastEnder Michelle Ryan would prefer to forget the 2007 attempt to relaunch Wonder Woman, which was dropped even before the end of its first series.

Film

The Flintstones, Scooby Doo and even Inspector Gadget have proved it's tricky to recreate the appeal of popular cartoons on the big screen. But when it comes to dodgy remakes, the 2006 reworking of Scottish cult classic The Wicker Man, starring Nicolas Cage, must take the biscuit. The director of the 1973 original, Robin Hardy, had his lawyers force Warner Bros to remove his name from the remake's promotional material. The woeful remake received an outstandingly bad five Razzie Award nominations.

But the 1991 thriller Cape Fear shows a good original can become even better in the right hands. The heart-stopping remake of the 1962 original received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor (Robert De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Lewis).

Songs

X Factor winner Matt Cardle's decision to cover Scots rockers Biffy Clyro's Many of Horror for his first single might have dismayed their fans, but the world of music shows a good cover version can introduce a classic to a new generation of fans. The massive 80s Soft Cell track Tainted Love was originally a hit in 1964 for Gloria Jones, while the cast of hit American TV show Glee have brought new life to the rock band Journey's popular track Don't Stop Believin'.

Books

Jeffrey Deaver isn't the first established author to attempt to reinvent Bond. Sebastian Faulks did it in 2008 - and succeeded in style. Devil May Care was commissioned by Ian Fleming's estate to mark the centenary of Fleming's birth, and won the 2009 British Book Awards Popular Fiction Award.

Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped was also successfully propelled into the 21st century by Marvel and DC Comics favourites Cam Kennedy and Alan Grant for Edinburgh's One City One Book campaign.

The Name's Holness. Bob Holness

He is one of cinema's most enduring characters, and despite the unbeatable performance of Sir Sean Connery as the suave spy, Ian Fleming's 007 has been portrayed by several people.

While everyone knows about actors Sir Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and most recently Daniel Craig filling the big-screen role, many may be unaware that the character has been portrayed by a few surprising people.

Chief among them is Blockbusters' Bob Holness, who in 1956 took on the role of Bond for a South African radio adaptation of Moonraker. And Toby Stephens, who played the megavillain Gustav Graves in Die Another Day, switched sides in 2008 and 2010 to play Bond in radio versions of Dr No and Goldfinger.