Nicolas Winding Refn, the maverick Danish director known for his dramatically stylish and visceral way with sex and violence, is to adapt Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books for the BBC.
Refn, whose films include Drive, Only God Forgives, the Pusher trilogy, a biopic of Charles Bronson and The Neon Demon, a blackly comic look at necrophilia in LA’s fashion world, will act as creator and executive producer on the mini-series, which has begun shooting in the south-west.
It is unclear which of Blyton’s 21 books will form the basis for the three 90-minute episodes. The Famous Five books, about siblings Julian, Dick and Anne and their attempts to thwart assorted kidnappers, thieves and smugglers around the Cornish coast with their cousin, George, and her dog, Timmy, were written between 1942 and 1962.
They remain staples of children’s literature, despite recent criticism over outdated attitudes towards a number of minorities in the stories, and some of Blyton’s other work.
In 2021, English Heritage published a profile of the author, highlighting the fact some readers “took exception to what they perceived as social snobbery, racism and sexism embedded in Blyton’s storylines”.
It cited examples from her work and noted that she was rejected by the Royal Mint for commemoration on a 50p coin, because she was “a racist, sexist homophobe and not a very well-regarded writer”.
Others have highlighted the apparently progressive gender fluidity of George, born Georgina, who dresses as a boy and would like to be treated as one.
“All my life I’ve fought vigorously to remain a child with a lust for adventure,” said Winding Refn. “By reimagining the Famous Five, I am preserving that notion by bringing these iconic stories to life for a progressive new audience, instilling the undefinable allure and enchantment of childhood for current and future generations to come.”
There have been numerous film, TV, audio, stage and graphic novel adaptations of the stories. A musical version premiered in Chichester last summer.
Patricia Hidalgo, director of BBC children’s and education, said: “Bringing these books to life with a new reimagining of the Famous Five is a real treat for BBC audiences and a celebration of British heritage. These stories are loved around the world and bringing families together is a key part of our strategy so we hope it introduces a new generation of viewers to these wonderful adventures.”
Refn, 52, has long been frank about his passion for children’s culture. Much of Drive was grounded in fairytale, he has said, while Kristin Scott Thomas’s formidable matriarch in Only God Forgives was conceived as a hybrid of Donatella Versace and a Barbie doll.
He also has prior form with staples of British Sunday night drama serials, directing Geraldine McEwan in two episodes of Miss Marple in 2007. One episode, Nemesis, took some liberties with Agatha Christie’s original text, dropping plots, skewing motives and conflating two characters into a serial-killing lesbian nun.
• This article was amended on 27 June to clarify the wording of the English Heritage article about Blyton.
