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The BBC is facing accusations of ‘betraying Jules Verne’s original vision’ after their new adaptation of Round the World in Eighty Days cast David Tennant rather than a cartoon lion in the lead role.
Literary experts had concerns about the new series after trailers failed to show a dapper, singing lion walking the streets of London, and the fears were realised with the first episode.
“Verne constructed the story to show the remarkable technical breakthroughs of the Victorian era, such as the competition of the trans-American railroad and being able to fit the king of beasts in a tailored suit and top hat,” said Professor Simon Williams of the Kettering Institute of Having the Foggiest.
“And it’s clear from the original text that passépartout is some kind of freakish, gigantic bipedal hamster and not a French-Algerian revolutionary. Recasting that pivotal recreation is just woke nonsense.”
The BBC defended the decision, saying that making Fogg a comedically incompetent bloke was entirely in keeping with contemporary sensibilities.
”Who would believe that an upper-class member of a society which had conquered the entire world could have his shit together?” a spokesman told us
”That’s even less credible than talking animals.”
