BBC radio Raffles

[regshoe]

I've just finished listening to the second series of the Raffles stories as adapted by BBC Radio, and I have thoughts which are... mixed, on the whole. Overall it's a more faithful adaptation than the Yorkshire TV series, but the ways in which it deviates from canon were ones I found more annoying.

Stuff I liked:

• The balance of stories/episodes over the first two series, and the way they build up the story arc that culminates in Mackenzie arresting Raffles, is pretty good, although I'm not thrilled about the absence of Le Premier Pas and The Spoils of Sacrilege.


• Although the lead actors aren't my perfect headcanon for Raffles and Bunny, I do think they do a very good job of getting the right tone and manner for the characters. Raffles's light-hearted flippancy concealing something more serious, and Bunny's reserve and caution all there except when it isn't, come through beautifully.


• There are some really lovely little details, like the added flashbacks to Raffles and Bunny's schooldays in The Field of Philippi (I especially like the headcanon for what it was Bunny did to get Raffles out of a tight spot!) and the references to Sherlock Holmes existing in the same universe.


• In general, wherever the episodes are closely following the canon stories, I think they do it very well. The final moments of The Gift of the Emperor, which I've just listened to this evening, are especially great.

And now for the complaining:

• There are plenty of places where the adaptation adds things that are just unnecessary for no real reason, which I never like, but there are also quite a few changes that come across as gimmicky, implausible or just plain silly. The 'fallen women' stuff in The Rest Cure and the henchman with the catchphrase in A Trap to Catch a Cracksman were annoying (perhaps I just don't have the same sense of humour as the writers), but the worst IMO was Bunny quoting from The Final Problem at the opening of The Gift of the Emperor. Now, this is silly (the parallels with Holmes are there, yes, but it's quite possible to overstate them!), it doesn't make sense (the context is completely different—why would events force Bunny's hand?) and it takes away from what the original story was doing (requiring Bunny to be writing before the events of No Sinecure means, for instance, that the Elba symbolism at the end is a piece of out-of-universe dramatic irony rather than a deliberate choice on his part).


• And some of the best moments from the stories are left out. Why no teenage-poetry quoting in The Field of Philippi???
  
  
• Like the TV series, there seems to be a consistent shying away from the darker side of the stories, and particularly of Raffles's and Bunny's relationship: the uncomfortable endings of The Rest Cure and The Field of Philippi are both changed, and there's no sign of the quarrel before The Gift of the Emperor. However, unlike the TV series this doesn't extend to removing the arrest entirely, and it looks as though the third series is going to cover the Maturin and Ham Common arcs right up to The Knees of the Gods—it'll be interesting to see how that's handled.

So, as I said, mixed, but I did enjoy it. The second series is still available to listen on the website, and I can recommend it with the above caveats—and I will certainly be keeping an eye out for series three!