Ghostboat by George E Simpson and Neal R Burger is one of my favorite novels. An obscure 1976 book, it tells of the USS Candlefish, a World War II sub that resurfaces 40 years after it had been presumed sank. No crew, living or dead remain aboard. Recruiting the only know survivor, the amnesia suffering Professor Hardy, the navy embark on a mission to retrace the final voyage of the submarine in an effort to asertain what happened to her.
In 2007, ITV made a TV adaptation of the book starring David Jason as Hardy. I was was very excited about this. So excited, I bloody missed its broadcast! So I'd thought I'd catch up with it.
Some changes have been made in the adaptation. The ghostly sub is now named HMS Scorpion with the British and Germans now the focus of events rather than the US and the Japanese. The resurfacing of the sub has been shifted from 1974 to 1981 to allow for some present day tension to be created from a Britsh sub carrying nuclear torpedos threatening the Russian coastline at the height of the cold war.
It's still a good yarn and, for a TV production, is well made, designed and shot. But it's directed sluggishly, rarely obtaining the momentum or atmosphere a story of this kind needs to succeed. Worthy but not exemplary.
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