I remember The Thorn Birds! I was a bit young at the time, but I remember it being on - my Mum loved it. Around that time (early 80s) quite a lot of the big bestsellers we’re televised. I remember Lace with Phoebe Cates and A Woman of Substance with Jenny Seagrave. There were also a few of Jackie Collins’ books done, Hollywood Wives was one, and maybe a couple of Jilly Cooper’s. Incidentally, I’m sure I read the other day that Riders is getting a reboot by some channel, can’t remember which.
ETA: Sorry, it’s Rivals and it’s Disney+ who are going to do it.
The second novel in Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles – following Britain’s sex and power-mad elites of the 1980s – will have a ‘2020s lens’ in a new Disney+ series
www.theguardian.com