MATTHEW MACFADYEN - PASSAGE TO INDIA HITS ROADBLOCK

PASSAGE TO INDIA HITS ROADBLOCK

The economic downturn has forced ITV, Britain's largest commercial network, to cancel a lavish two-part adaptation of E.M. Forster's A Passage to India , despite already having paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for rights and development, the London Daily Telegraph reported Friday. "When this drama was commissioned, nobody could have foreseen the economic circumstances we find ourselves in now. This is unprecedented. We have to allocate our resources wisely," an ITV source told the newspaper. The drama, which was to have starred Matthew Macfadyen and Sally Hawkins, was to have been presented by the network as a showcase special next spring. Last week ITV said that it would cut expenses by 20 percent over the coming year.

22/12/2008