Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Well-acted, sometimes touching, sometimes shocking, story of a young English woman's coming of age and coming to terms with her lesbianism.

Her homophobic parents oppress her unmercifully, but she makes some friends who help her thru her crises to become a strong person. Definitely worth a look!

I have been watching a lot of my old favourites recently and I can't heap enough praise on this adaptation. I'm not a great reader, but this bbc show was just brilliant. The acting, everything. Geraldine McEwan and Charlotte Coleman were both outstanding. The first episode was so funny and endearing, the soundtrack happy and upbeat, a young Emily Aston just lovely, but you knew darker things were to come, how could they not? People don't like to see others happy when they are miserable themselves it seems. I think every school syllabus should have had a book like this included instead of the usual boring heteronomative drivel I was forced to read waay back in the 80's when I was struggling with my sexuality myself. Brilliant show back then and is just as brilliant today.

This made-for-television gem is made all the more poignant by the untimely death of Charlotte Coleman (Jess)in 2001. Ms. Coleman provides a touching and heart felt performance. The cult-like nature of her upbringing along with her strength in the face of such almost fanatical religiosity shows the value of forbearance in the face of such adversity. The entire cast provide solid and almost chillingly real acting within the storyline. Jess is the epitome of forgiveness and understanding given the predicament she finds herself in. This program is well worth a look if only for the thought provoking nature of the subject matter. This film received several awards and stands the test of time. In a way the production was ahead of its time with its frank assessment of Jess's personality. You can't runaway from your self.

One of its many brilliant touches is the ability to be both funny and heart rending at the same time - I can recall scenes where crying and laughing are mixed together(a very messy pairing!).

Charlotte Coleman, Geraldine McEwan and Kenneth Cranham are all outstanding (not forgetting Emily Aston and her asking a confused ice cream seller " What's fornication?"). The whole production team should take a bow as well, with all elements of the project coming together to make something that I feel is one of the high water marks of British TV, and which I tear has ebbed for ever, or at least the foreseeable future. Like the previous reviewer, I watched it at a young age, and can remember whole scenes and strands very clearly, a not inconsiderable feat when I consider all the TV programs I consumed at that age.

I read the book, and loved it, having to give it back to the library before the Easter long- weekend left me little to do, so after some searching (albeit mainly on YouTube) found this adaptation.

This adaptation was written by Winterson herself, so I expected it to be good, and it was. The acting was tremendous and it stayed quite faithful to the book, as you would expect. Some have accused this adaptation over being over-dramatic and over-exaggerated , particularly with the portrayal of the church and the character of Jeanette's (who in the adaptation is now called Jessica) mother, and to an extent it is, but I feel that this was how it was written in the book and so is fair enough.

Where it fails, however, is that it clearly bears the scars of the transition from page to screen. Mainly through how the cutaway fairy-tales that, whilst about different characters, are significant and relevant in their themes to the main story, are cut out. This was particularly sad for me as I was eager to see how this would be done. The most likely explanation is that this would cut down the adaptation to a happy three-parter, so could this be understandable?