'The English Patient' Television Adaptation in the Works at the BBC

The BBC is reportedly working on a limited series television adaptation of Michael Ondaatje’s award-winning novel The English Patient.

Many of you are probably aware of the 1996 film version, which starred Ralph Fiennes and Kristen Scott Thomas, and was nominated for 12 Academy Awards. It won nine, including Best Picture, Best Director for Anthony Minghella, and Best Supporting Actress for Juliette Binoche. According to Deadline, this new BBC version is not meant to be a straight remake of the movie, but rather a new interpretation of author Ondaatje’s critically acclaimed novel. What that means, precisely is anyone's guess, but the book does feature a very different style of exposition than the film does so that might be a natural place to start.

The book, which was first published in 1992, follows the story of four people who find themselves in an abandoned monastery in northern Italy in the last months of World War II.