10 TV Shows Probably Made Out Of Spite
8. His Dark Materials
You can sense the spite dripping off the BBC and HBO's co-produced His Dark Materials series, based on Philip Pullman's fantasy novel franchise of the same name.
This is because it followed Hollywood's attempt to translate the novels into a mega-budget movie property, with 2007's star-studded, $180 million tentpole The Golden Compass.
But between mixed reviews, an underwhelming commercial performance, and a consensus from fans that the film had sanitised the book's religion-critical themes, all planned sequels were promptly nixed.
Philip Pullman was then forced to wait until the rights to the books reverted back to him, after which he swiftly began shopping a new take on His Dark Materials around.
Eventually it landed as a series with the BBC and HBO, where Pullman ensured it would offer up a far more faithful take on his material, as it absolutely has so far.
It's quite a victory for the author, and proof that some properties are just so, so much better suited for TV than film.
In the latter case, larger budgets can result in a greater pressure to appeal to as wide a market as inoffensively as possible, as clashes with His Dark Materials' core ethos.