A Town Like Alice (miniseries)
A Town Like Alice is a five-hour 1981 Australian television adaptation of Nevil Shute's novel of the same name. Produced by the Seven Network, and directed by David Stevens, it was the second major adaptation of the book.
In the United States it was shown on PBS under the Masterpiece Theatre banner, a rare non-British production to be so aired.
Cast
- Helen Morse as Jean Paget
- Bryan Brown as Joe Harman
- Gordon Jackson as Noel Strachan
- Ken Brown as Ben Leggatt
- Peter Kowitz as TAA pilot
- Arkie Whiteley as Annie
- Maurie Fields as Al Burns
- Lorna Lesley as Rose Sawyer
- Lois Ramsey as Mrs Driver
- Cecily Polson as Eileen Holland
- Lucy Bell as Jane Holland
- Tommy Lewis as Bourneville
- Yuki Shimoda as Gunso, Sergeant Mifune
- John Lee as Lester
- Dorothy Alison as Mrs Frith
- Anna Volska as Sally
- John Howard (Australian actor) as Donald
- Richard Narita as Captain Sugamo
- Steve Bisley as Tim Whelan
- Anne Haddy as Aggie Topp
Changes from the book
While generally faithful to the original book, there are several notable differences, the most significant right at the end.- In Malaya, Jean learns of the Japanese invasion while at a party, rather than while working in her Kuala Lumpur office, and evacuates by truck from there, not from a friend's house.
- There are noticeably fewer women and children who make, and survive, the walk, than the 30 and 17 respectively in the book.
- In Kuantan, Joe is nailed to a outbuilding door, not to a tree.
- In Willstown, after Jean dresses down the bank manager for his fly-ridden office, Joe does not tell her that the manager has ordered gallons of DDT; rather he tells Jean she is stirring up resentment in the town, and should not be trying to teach the locals how to live; they argue, and each declares they no longer want to marry.
- Receiving a letter from Jean about the apparent break-up, Noel is knocked down in the street by a taxi, but then decides to fly out to Willstown, taking Jean's ice skates with him, in the hope she will return to England with him.
- Joe and Jean are married in a church, with Noel giving Jean away. At the reception, Noel toasts the bride and groom, and reads out two congratulatory telegrams from Malaya: from Sally and Derek Wilson-Hayes, and from Mrs Renee Frith. There is no explanation as to who told them of the wedding.