The Diary of Anne Frank (2009)

Disturbing yet enthralling

Absolutely brilliant

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There can't be many people who haven't heard of the story of Anne Frank. The 13 year old girl from a Jewish family who, to avoid evacuation from Holland by the Nazis, hid with her family in the rooms above her fathers business for 2 years before being caught. The diary she kept during this period was published after the war and has since been translated into a number of languages and has become the most widely read piece of non-fiction apart from the Bible.The rights to the story are rarely available and it's pleasing that this new production transmitted on the BBC over five half-hour episodes on consecutive nights is a great example of quality, thought provoking and moving television that should be enjoyed by all.Ellie Kendrick stars as Anne, the teenage daughter of Otto (Iain Glen) and Edith Frank (Tamsin Greig). In her diaries Anne comes across as a precocious teenager, sometimes impertinent and always with something to say regardless of other peoples feelings and Ellie Kendrick's performance captures this perfectly. She is a teenager after all and we get to know all her growing pains through her diary entries. Iain Glen is the solid and almost perfect father and is amiably assisted by Tamsin Grieg as a quiet and dependable mother. The supporting cast including Lesley Sharp, Ron Cook and Geoff Bretton as the Van Daans are all exceptional, particularly Lesley Sharp whose performance as the selfish and head strong Petronella was always entertaining. The production values were first rate and the recreation of the rooms where the families lived really made you appreciated how claustrophobic, stressful, and monotonous their daily lives must have been. As the series concludes and you get more and more attached to these characters the sudden discovery of the secret annex by the police is well handled and very emotional.A very strong series that is never preachy or over-dramatic and which I hope is transmitted in as many countries as possible. Highly enjoyable and recommended.

One can only be grateful to the BBC, which (along with a lot of rubbish) produces so many worthwhile, thoughtful and carefully crafted programmes.This is one of them. The story of Anne, her family, Peter's family and the dentist has been dramatised with great attention to detail and sensitivity. The sets seem to be exact recreations of the real hiding place in Amsterdam.Ellie Kendrick is a great find as Anne. She is quite a good look-alike and convincingly acts Anne's personality. This version is far from painting her as a saint. She is portrayed as quite selfish and petulant, and cruel towards her mother. This seems to be truthful.Most of the rest of the cast are good, and are also have quite a good resemblance to the real people they represent.I only have doubts about the actor playing Peter. He is way too old for the part. A man of 24 is not suitable to play a boy of 16, try as he might. To make matters worse, his face seems to have been painted pink and white to make him seem younger, but this merely looks unnatural.However, this is a minor blemish in a very good production.

My wife read the Diary of Anne Frank last year for English class, and when we visited Amsterdam we went to see the house.The house in this TV series is exactly the same as the real house, almost to the extent that I wonder if they filmed it there.The story as told in this series is very close to the book and shows Anne as she shows herself in her diary. An intelligent, boisterous, moody, lively teenage girl.The fact that she was SO full of energy and ideas and yet was cooped up in those rooms for so long is the really moving thing about the book I think and they have captured it very well in the series.This BBC drama feels completely authentic, I can't think of anything to criticise it about at all!

Just finished watching episode 5 on BBC i-player. I've been familiar with the story of Anne since I was a child, but I've never seen it told so simply or movingly as it has been over the past five nights on BBC2. I'm a cynical 45 yr old bloke, and there's honestly not much that can make me cry... I'll just have to tell my girlfriend that I've got a cold. Sensitive writing and a superb cast turned this into something special... excruciatingly sad, wonderfully uplifting. How can anyone endure the petty posturing of Celebrity Big Brother after watching this? So am I really the only person to be posting about this?