Ejercicio A · Inglés PAU Madrid Ordinaria Martes 2020

TEXTO A

A New BBC Period Drama

The BBC is to make its first prime-time period drama that will have Asian actors in all the leading roles. Filming is due to start this summer on an adaptation of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy, which at 1,349 pages is one of the longest novels in the English language.

It will be directed by Mira Nair, the Indian-American film-maker behind Monsoon Wedding. Andrew Davies, best known for adapting Pride and Prejudice for the BBC, has been drafted in for the screenplay.

To be broadcast next year, the series is expected to have more than 100 characters. All the main roles will be played by Asians – many from India – while the handful of white characters in Seth’s book will appear only as bit parts. It contrasts with ITV’s current Sunday night offering, Beecham House, which stars Tom Bateman playing a former member of the East India Company in the leading role. Previous hit dramas set in Asia, such as The Far Pavillions and The Jewel in the Crown, have also focused on white characters.

Davies acknowledged it was a big departure for the BBC, but believes viewers will still tune in. “It is exciting,” he said. “Not many of the leading players will be known to a British audience. But it is also like a Jane Austen novel in that it’s got a lovely, easy-to-relate-to central plot.”

A Suitable Boy revolves around the desire of a middle-class Indian mother, Rupa Mehra, to marry off her youngest daughter, Lata. The Indian actress Tabu, who starred as the mother in Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, is expected to play Mehra, while a Bollywood star has been cast as Lata.

Adapted from “All-Asian cast is most suitable for BBC’s Vikram Seth drama,” The Times, 30 June 2019. <https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/all-asian-cast-is-most-suitable-for-bbc-s-vikram-seth-drama-t6qwvj57f>

QUESTIONS

A.1 (2 puntos) Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE.

a)

This will be the first production by Mira Nair.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

There will be no white characters in the new BBC series.

TRUE

FALSE

A.2 (2 puntos) In your own words and based on the ideas in the text, answer the following questions. Do not copy from the text.

a)

How does Andrew Davies think the audience will react to this new series and why?

b)

What is the plot of the new BBC series?