nomansbosom
replied to your post “Some thoughts on recent fictional deaths”
I’ve read the books and I cannot think of a single story they changed the ending of? I think Barbara died because the actor who plays Tom didnt want to leave and the only way that would make sense for Tom to stay and Barbara to leave would be death or divorce.
There were quite a few. The basic concept of these women’s stories stayed the same, but the ending (and sometimes names) were changed.
Like, take the story of Julia Masterson in 2×06. She reconnects with her dying father, has a baby and inherits her dad’s pub. That’s (thankfully) where the story ends. But the real Julia:
…has the child (in reality a girl) and it dies and she’s left all alone.
Then there’s Kathy (spelt “Cathy” in the series it seems) who appears in 1×06. She gives birth to triplets, and the last we see of her she’s walking happily down the street with the sailor who came back to marry her. Ohhh so depressingly not the case in reality:
Kirsten from 2×01 (”Kirsty” in the book) is another one who we never find out what happened to. Her story in the book is flat-out one of the most horrible things I’ve ever read, and it was toned down (thank god) a lot in the show. In the show, Kirsten makes her own decision to return to Sweden with her baby. The real woman never got a choice at all:
And chances are high she probably died.
I’ve always thought there was something good in the way Heidi Thomas and co looked at the book and planned out the series, kinda like they went “Okay, these real women suffered terribly, let’s give their fictional counterparts better endings.” I know not everyone’s gonna agree, but I guess it struck me as a kind thing to do? And I definitely don’t resent the showrunners for killing off Barbara, honestly I don’t, with all the various stuff going on with the cast it probably was the most pragmatic option. (Though Jack Ashton might not be sticking around either.) I guess I just feel sad about because, well, the book CTM was based on already told us how nasty and cruel and short life can be.