Katy is a TV mini-series adaptation of the 2015 book Katy by Jacqueline Wilson, that was itself an adaptation of the novel What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge from 1872. The series was released in 2018, 3 years after its source material, starring Chloe Lea as Katy.
It follows the main story of the Jacqueline Wilson novel faithfully overall, consisting of a few changes and omissions, which makes sense due to it only being a mini-series.
This series provides examples of:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Izzy is blonde in the book, whereas here she is dark-haired.
- Adaptational Nice Girl:
- Eva Jenkins cattiness is toned down quite a lot in this adaptation, with her only really being remotely catty or unpleasant to Katy in the swimming costume scene and during the disco scene near the end after Katy dances with Ryan, with her mainly just acting like a {{Bitch in Sheep's Clothing}} throughout most of her screentime in this series, trying too hard to be nice to Katy in a somewhat patronising manner after her accident when she is in a wheelchair. Meanwhile in the book she actually continues to be spiteful and hateful to Katy even after her accident and while she's in the wheelchair, actually Bullying the Disabled, and complains about Katy having bashed into her during PE, resulting in Katy being banned from PE. It makes sense that this was toned down as disability discrimination is not something they probably wanted to show on TV on a kids programme in this day and age.
- The same could be said for Izzy, who while still closely follows her original counterpart before Katy's accident, she does not snap at Katy after her accident when the former continues to be insolent towards her, saying how hateful she is to everyone and wishing sometimes that she wasn't even her stepdaughter, but instead just calmly tells her how wrong Katy is about her not caring.
- Adapted Out: Dori and Jonnie, as well as Imogen. Subverted with Helen, as while there is a character called Helen who is a wheelchair user trying to help Katy in this adaptation, she does not have the same role as in the book, where she is Katy's dad patient who he has a close relationship with, with all Katy and her siblings worshipping her, but rather takes up the role as a physiotherapist, taking on more of a Stern Teacher kind of role.
- Demoted to Extra: Elsie has a smaller role and less screen-time in this adaptation, with her relationship with Katy not being addressed as much, though they seem to have a closer relationship by the end much like in the book.
- Lighter and Softer: Downplayed, as the book was never exactly dark, but certain scenes from the book that were pretty unpleasant and infuriating to read along were cut out, along with Eva Jenkin's personality being toned down. it also omits the discriminative headteacher who tries to put Katy off attending her school because she is disabled and might "struggle" with their mainstream school, as well as them not having any lifts, with there indeed being lifts in the school in this adaptation. Katy being banned from participating in PE because of her wheelchair being a health and safety risk was also cut out. At the most, there are girls in Katy's PE class who are annoyed, claiming Katy to be an inconvenience with her disability behind her back, due to the PE teacher having adapted the lesson for her when they wanted to play dodgeball, but they are never actually officially unpleasant or spiteful towards her. Justified given this is a TV series and probably did not want to show all this disability discrimination take place, which would not be taken well in today's society, particularly with children and young people watching.
- Race Lift: Katy is white Caucasian in the book, whereas here she is black. Same goes for Katy's dad and Clover.
