Tom Brown’s Schooldays: TV Drama, ITV

 

Nearly 35 years after BBC Television aired its controversial adaptation of Tom Brown’s Schooldays, another British TV company, ITV, had a try. As we saw (here) the BBC won many acclaimed awards for its version but it was also criticised for the alleged ‘sadism’ in scenes involving bullying and beating.

In a version first aired in Britain on 1 January 2005, Stephen Fry took on the role of headmaster Dr Arnold and Alex Pettyfer played Tom.

The made for TV movie is available to purchase as a DVD.

In this clip, Tom has stolen a chicken and Dr Arnold sends him to the tower. Perhaps the producers were mindful of the protests the BBC faced in 1971, or maybe the tastes of the audience had changed ...

Picture and video credits: ITV

 For more from Tom Brown’s Schooldays, click here

For more TV drama, click here

For Movie Clips, click here

Traditional School Discipline

Traditionalschooldiscipline@gmail.com