The BBC has just begun broadcasting three episodes serializing Evelyn Waugh’s classic 1928 novel Decline and Fall, starring Eva Longoria,of Desperate Housewives fame; British comedian Jack Whitehall as passive hero Paul Pennyfeather; David Suchet (Poirot); and Douglas Hodge (The Night Manager).
This is the first television adaptation of Decline and Fall, despite the enduring popularity of the source material. It was made into an ill-judged film in 1969 that was retitled Decline and Fall…of a Birdwatcher and in 2008 was broadcast as a play on BBC Radio 4.
These days, Waugh often falls foul to bores (or politically correct prudes), quick to claim that he is a racist, a snob and suchlike. Alex Larman wrote in The Guardian that “Waugh’s depiction of a 20s high society means very little to modern readers’ and that the ‘arch dialogue and authorial commentary make it difficult to care about any of the characters.”
Simon Heffer concluded in The Telegraph that ‘the past is a foreign country, and Decline and Fall is the part of it where all the mockery happened.’ And that’s before we get onto social media trolling.
Such remarks are not altogether unfounded. The snobbery, apparent in so much of Waugh’s work, alludes to times past and worlds forgotten ( for example: “I could have forgiven him his wooden leg, his slavish poverty, his moral turpitude and his abominable features… if only he had been a gentleman.”)
Similarly, Paul Pennyfeather’s ‘sudden elevation from schoolmaster to millionaire’ in Decline and Fall may seem fantastical. But were such flippant remarks to ring true, I doubt that the BBC would be adapting the novel, calling in ‘slebs’ such as Jack Whitehall and Eva Longoria to excite contemporary audiences.
The plot follows hopeless and hapless Pennyfeather after he is sent down from Oxford University, having fallen victim to stereotypically hedonistic rituals from the Bollinger Club (based on the Bullingdon Club) which could well be the most-written about club of the 21st century thanks to erstwhile members David Cameron and Boris Johnson.
He then finds himself teaching at a farcical boys’ public school in Wales, falls in love with a pupil’s mother, Margot Beste-Chetwynde, played by Longoria, becomes entangled in human trafficking and ends up in jail.
Longoria is as lovely as the day is long. Whitehall, at moments, is funny, but occasionally his character comes across as smug, and his acting seems somewhat self-conscious. One reason for this might be the leading man was spending too much time making eyes at his co-star.
Whitehall, taking it all very seriously, has spoken to the Press about his crush on Longoria, telling The Sun: ‘I watched Desperate Housewives religiously when I was at school and I fancied her so much. It was quite weird that I was doing this show with her and, yes, it was hard to control myself.’ Luckily – for all involved – Whitehall does manage to control himself while the cameras are rolling.
The script (written by James Wood) is very true to the book in terms of dialogue. In its original form, Decline and Fall is quintessential Waugh. Despite it being his second book and his first work of fiction, published in 1928 when its author was only 25. Decline and Fall is shrewd, precise and, above all, incredibly funny.
The BBC adaptation is not any of these things. Instead it is light, sweet on the eye – it is beautifully shot, despite the exaggerated doom and gloom of Llanabba school in the hidden depths of Wales – and a nice and easy choice of television programme for a Friday evening.
Plus the celebrity line-up brings the 1920s kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I would go so far as to recommend it. But, of course, it isn’t nearly as funny as the book.
