The Lost World
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The BBC brings Dinosaurs, drama and an Amazon adventure with Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World"
BBC Worldwide presents its flagship drama series The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle's epic tale of British explorers searching for a mysterious plateau in the Brazilian rainforest - and the dinosaurs reputed to survive there, at a cocktail party on April 4th, 5.30 pm.
An expedition into the uncharted central Amazon jungle leads a 1911 British scientific team on a breathtaking journey... and a nightmare from which they may never return. With only a 16th century map and raw instinct Professor Challenger (Bob Hoskins) leads the expedition consisting of the notorious explorer and womaniser Lord Roxton (Tom Ward), the cynical palaeontologist Leo Summerlee (James Fox) and Daily Gazette cub-reporter Edward Malone (Matthew Rhys). They are joined by the youthful, innocent Agnes Kerr (Elaine Cassidy) - brought up in the jungle by her missionary uncle, Rev Theo Kerr (Peter Falk). Challenger's theories of a lost world where dinosaurs still survive are disregarded by his contemporaries. However, undaunted he guides his team.
Produced by Christopher Hall, The Lost World started production in both London and New Zealand in February. The serial realistically combines the high level technical expertise and creativity of Walking With Dinosaurs and the BBC's period drama skills. Tim Haines, who was responsible for Walking With Dinosaurs, is co-producing, creating a British television first by combining live period action with the latest digital effects.
The Lost World, available as either 1x143', 2x75', 3x50', is a BBC/A&E co-production in association with RTL Television, and has been pre-sold to ABC Australia and licensed to TF1 in France.
Cinescape
February 12, 2001
Lost World Miniseries
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World is getting yet another remake,
this time a three hour TV movie from the A&E cable network with the BBC
with Walking With Dinosaurs' Tim Haines co-producing.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, this latest version of the classic story
will star Bob Hoskins in the role of Professor George Challenger. Peter Falk
will also make a cameo appearance in the coming film in the role of Rev.
Theo Kerr. The film will also feature Tom Ward (Quills) as Lord Roxton,
James Fox (Passage to India) as Professor Leo Summerlee, Matthew Rhys
(Titus) as cub reporter Edward Malone and Elaine Cassidy (Felicia's
Journey) as Agnes Kerr.
The project will be helmed by Stuart Orme (Ivanhoe), with a script by
Tony Mulholland. Christopher Hall will produce the project with Haines.
Production is scheduled to start this month with shooting in London and
New Zealand. Plans are to air the film on the BBC around Christmas this
year with the series turning up on A&E in the second half of 2002.
The Sunday Telegraph
Oliver Poole
November 12, 2000
BBC will strip Conan Doyle of racial overtones
The BBC is to adapt The Lost World, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tale of dinosaurs and empire builders, for television in a way that eliminates its "tone of racial superiority". The £10 million drama will be one of the highlights of next year's schedule.
Conan Doyle packed his adventure story with references to "sub-human natives noted for their savage behaviour and low intellects". The two-part adaptation will, however, portray the strange tribes encountered by British explorers as equals to the white men who invade their hidden territory.
Names that the corporation considers offensive to modern sensibilities, such as Zambo, the giant "negro" described as being as "faithful as a dog", will be expunged. To bring the story further up to date, a love interest, in the shape of the beautiful niece of a missionary, is to be introduced.
Christopher Hall, the programme's producer, said that although the drama would remain as close as possible to the original work there were elements that would not be acceptable to contemporary audiences.
"Some of the Victorian obsessions and concerns are now viewed slightly differently," he said. "There are things about Conan Doyle which are old-fashioned, particularly his view of natives. We feel differently now."
Conan Doyle's story of a scientific expedition by four high-spirited Englishmen who travel deep into Amazon jungle in South America was written in 1912, when views of Britain's imperial destiny and the superiority of the white man were common.
The BBC hopes that its adaptation will prove a ratings winner by combining the strengths of its costume drama department, responsible for successes such as Pride and Prejudice, with the special effects developed for its award-winning series Walking with Dinosaurs.
Nicknamed "frocks with teeth" by the makers, the two 75-minute episodes have gone into pre-production; filming will begin in New Zealand in February. It will then take five months for the computer-generated dinosaurs to be added. The drama will be directed by Stuart Orme, who made The Sculptress; the script was written by Tony Mulholland, who has worked on previous Conan Doyle programmes.
Philip Webber, the president of the Arthur Conan Doyle Study Group, said that the book was a classic that should not be altered.
"It is true the treatment of the natives is very strange," he said. "It may not be politically correct but to judge Conan Doyle for this is to be anachronistic - you are applying standards that did not apply then."
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