Chocky was written by John Wyndham in 1963 in novellette form and finally published as a novel in 1968, a year after the BBC had first adapted it for radio. It would be adapted again in 1998 but before then in 1984 it was dramatised for television on ITV by Anthony Read which is the adaptation I will be comparing the novel to. The TV dramatisation is six episodes of 30 minutes in length. Produced in 1984 it was seen in the UK as well as Canada and Australia. It was followed by a second series: Chocky's Children in 1985 which was wholy original as was the final series in 1986, Chocky's Children. In Australia they were screened on the national broadcaster, the ABC on a Tuesday afternoon at 5pm on a weekly basis which meant that the original would have lasted for around six weeks and was like most things of that time, rerun at a later time during the year.
Chocky is the story of the atypical English family, the Gores. The father David, mother Mary, adopted son Matthew and natural born daughter Polly. They have the normal issues families have with the biggest issue being the accommodation of Polly's imaginary friend Piff, that is until Matthew starts asking questions that are beyond his 11 year knoweledge...
The book is very interesting when you know that the Author, John Wyndham never had children and it was the final book published while he was alive, yet he writes both the worries of the parents and Matthew with equal deftness. The only thing that doesn't date well or possibly doesn't translate to non-english cultures is Matthew calling his father Daddy at every turn even though he's eleven. Thankfully this is addressed in the TV dramatisation as part of the updating. My use of the word dramatisation and not adaptation is intentional. It is used in the opening credits and it is very apt as Chocky is a very straightforward story and so is the tv show. The tv show and the book it is based on are very economical, nothing is wasted. No subplots, no extraneous characters. This allows you to ponder the questions that the story raises but both are products of their time. The TV adaptation raises questions of identity like the Midwich Cuckoos but also questions of, at least in Matthew's eyes that his accomplishments are Chocky's accomplishments, until he begins to at least with the artwork, takes ownership that it may have been Chocky that initiated the art but it was Matthew that had the latent talent, the malleable mind that Chocky was seeking. This is made even more obvious in the first episode of the tv show as Chocky hovers unseen in the classroom until Chocky selects Matthew. On the whole Chocky seen with the passage of time seems both quaint and prescient at the same time. The family only having to worry about their privacy being invaded by the press on the phone, radio and at their house. But also Chocky's thoughts on the primitiveness of the new car and our society being a sun-based economy and I wonder if John Wyndham had read John Christopher's The Death of Grass (later adapted in film under the title No Blade of Grass) and that had some small influence. We shall probably never know as his wishes were that after his death that his personal papers and correspondence were to be destroyed. All that remains is the work and Chocky is the pinnacle of that work. It is still a cozy catastrophe as his work has been characterised but like his first book, Day of the Triffids its the simplicity of the prose and the story that draws the reader in and lets them envision themselves in those extraordinary circumstances and can be adapted or dramatised without major changes and is situable for all ages both the book and the TV series which was released on DVD in Zone 2 & 4 (UK & Australia/New Zealand) in 2010.
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