Bleak House

At the forthcoming request for Charter renewal by the BBC, the Governors could do no better than to sit MPs comfortably on their green benches and screen the entirety of Andrew Davies' magisterial adaptation of Dickens' Bleak House.

A TV series that can afford to throw away a consummate actress like Sheila Hancock as a giggling ninny with almost no dialogue who occupies just seconds of screen time must, by definition, be supremely confident in its ability to entertain. Bleak House has that confidence in spades, and rightly so.

There is so much to treasure here - not least from the seemingly unending parade of well-known (to British audiences, at least) faces on parade. I particularly relished Matthew Kelly's absurdly self-important Old Mr Turveydrop, Liza Tarbuck's do-gooding drab, Nathaniel Parker's loathsome Mr Skiphold, Denis Lawson's achingly tender-hearted Mr Jarndyce and Hugo Speer's staunch Sergeant George. But even from the lesser-known cast - like poor, sweet Harry Eden and the two young wards who float prettily at the story's centre - there are moments of pure joy.

Three performances, however, really stand out as being responsible for making this so much more than a collection of delightful cameos. Anna Maxwell Martin provides a calm and sensible centre to the many comings and goings in Dickens' complex tale - her pale, inquisitive face registering calm resignation at the turmoils Esther must undergo. Stalwart of epic dramas like The Jewel in the Crown, Charles Dance is hypnotically dreadful as the wicked Tulkinghorn, glowering and scheming with real menace, and without once resorting to camp.

For me though, the performance of the series (and that is saying something) is Gillian Anderson's Lady Dedlock. Shot in an eerily bleak blue light, and seeming always on the verge of cracking like a porcelain vase, she is nothing short of mesmerising.

In short, the finest TV adaptation of a Dickens novel ever made and another triumph for Andrew Davies and the BBC.

I've just watched the first episode, and I thought it was the best classic adaptation on British television for years. (I have been tiring of costume-drama-by-numbers, and of Andrew Davies's superficial adaptations in particular, but they've got this one right, in my opinion). The directing is excellent, producing uniformly good performances from the actors - even from the likes of Johnny Vegas - and particularly from Charles Dance as Tulkinghorn and from the actress playing Esther Summerson (a tiresomely one-dimensional character in the book).

The camera moves around in response to characters' actions in an interesting way, and scenes open and close with swooshing sounds of the sort used these days in sci-fi feature films, keeping things vibrant. Since the early parts of the book are the least successful, I'm sure this serial can't help but go from strength to strength.

My favourite scene was Guppy's hilarious proposal of marriage to Esther.

Bleak House is one of my favorite books and the BBC televersion strikes me as wonderful. I disagree, though, with those who feel that the wonderful actress who plays Esther Summerson rescues "a tiresomely one-dimensional character in the book" - rather, I think she awesomely expresses what Dickens meant us to understand her to be, in the book. His clues to her non-stereotypical character and feelings are expressed, though, through references that are no longer easy to decode without special historical knowledge - some of it pretty, well, specialized. I suspect that if the person who wrote my quoted bit - which was part of an excellent comment and is itself beautifully put - went back to the book after seeing the BBC production, more of the book would reveal itself. Yet, even to him or her - probably not everything! The production doesn't take it on, for example, to explain why everybody at Bleak House calls Esther "Dame Trot" - but there *is* a reason!

Gillian Anderson is luminous as Lady Dedlock in this adaptation of Dickens's Bleak House. She is helped by the highly atmospheric, Gothic type lighting in many of the scenes which mirrors the dourness and dirt of the era. Particularly effective, are the parts shot in the squalid Victorian homes on winding staircases with peeling paint. Although not yet complete, this is a joy to watch with just the right balance of suspense and comedy. I have had to restrain myself from dipping into the book to find out the ending. I can't remember the last British costume drama I saw which showcased as much acting talent as this, whether it is the dastardly lawyer played by Charles Dance or the slatternly mother who is Lisa Tarbuck; watch out especially for Pauline Collins (a known talent) and Johnny Vegas (a revelation) who are both really rather good. I believe Sheila Hancok is going to appear soon and I am looking forward to that too.

Bleak House is not a book I have read. I was however aware that the central story concerned the never-ending courtroom litigation of Jarndyce versus Jarndyce. As a child, this book, I decided was way too boring to read. How wrong I was. I never dreamt that a Dickens novel could become such an obsession in later life.

This dazzling adaptation is serialised in the same way that Dickens serialised his masterpiece in the popular press. Each half-hour episode ends on a cliff-hanger. We, the viewers, are forced to count the days until the next episode is screened. ( and there is only 6 more to go!!!) It is impossible to find fault with the production. The characterisations and directing are the best I have seen from the Drama Department of the BBC. They have managed to capture the gloom, grime and squalor of the late 19th century convincingly.

Each actor is ideally cast. Charles Dance as the lawyer Tulkinghorn is evil personified. Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock, totally unrecognisable from her X-File days, is fragile and enigmatic. Particularly noteworthy in the host of Dickensian eccentrics are Pauline Collins as Miss Flite, Johnny Vegas as Krook and Philip Davis as "Shake me up Judy" Smallweed and Burn Gorman as Guppy. However it is invidious to single anyone out of such a stellar casting.

I cannot give this drama a higher recommendation