Paramount+ - all four eps available from Tues 1 Nov
The prequel to disturbing Seventies novel Flowers In The Attic arrives...
Virginia Andrews’ controversial 1979 novel Flowers In The Attic was a worldwide bestseller, and has twice been adapted into movies, in 1987 and 2014, but it’s never been turned into a TV drama. Now, 1987 prequel novel Garden Of Shadows has been given the small-screen treatment, in the form of a four-part mini-series for Paramount+.
It tells the disturbing backstory of Olivia Foxworth, the grandmother featured in the original Flowers In The Attic novel, who subjects her four grandchildren to a life of oppression
and deprivation as they are kept hidden in the attic of her mansion. The story begins with Olivia (then known by her maiden name of Winfield) being wooed by Malcolm Foxworth, but her hopes of a life of happiness with him at his family seat, Foxworth Hall, are quickly dashed.
Jemima Rooper, who plays Olivia, says, ‘We get to see how Olivia ended up the way she did. There are quite a lot of things that happen to her that push her down a dark path. However, from the scripts, I just don’t see the monster – I think she’s completely misunderstood. I have a lot of sympathy for her, until maybe the final episode.’
Max Irons, meanwhile, plays Malcolm and adds, ‘He’s also a bit of a monster, but it’s my job to discover how he’s ended up like this. His father was very absent and his mother, who had been overly present in his formative years, suddenly abandoned him.
‘This was all during a time when therapy wasn’t about, and he had to cope with all this upheaval on his own. While he’s a monster, he has so many confusing feelings and is having to deal with the world on the world’s terms, from his perspective, and I think that’s how I have to look at it as an actor.’