Bleak House

Having worked in the cinema for most of my life, I tend to regard television - virtually all television - as shallow and second rate. But here is a totally magnificent adaptation of one of Dickens' more challenging novels.

As in most Dickens, here money - a surfeit and a lack of it - structures the complex comings and goings of a labyrinthine plot. The characters are fabulous and some of them - Skimpole and Mr Guppy, for example - may very well become well-known archetypes due to the popularity and power of this adaptation, in the same way that Micawber and Fagin are. The darkness of the sets makes for some wonderfully expressive design work, and the music is brilliantly chosen.

In fact it might be perfect...it's just that Anna Maxwell Martin as the central Esther Summerson is just a bit too simpering... But when you think how flaccid Charles Dance usually is, his Tulkinghorn is a truly creepy creation.... Plenty more to come, but to date (after four episodes), this looks to me better Dickens than anything outside Christine Edzard's 'Little Dorritt' and Lean's 'Great Expectations' - and it could even better them...

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.

PBS is broadcasting "Bleak House" as an initial 2-hour segment, followed by 1-hour segments on subsequent weeks, for I believe 5 weeks: a total of 6 broadcasts. Now, halfway through, I have to say that this is some of the best, if not the best, television I have ever seen. The actors are incredible. The cast is perfect. Every single one of them is a master at his or her craft. Nothing finer! The tele-film is superb from the grimy lighting and atmosphere to parallel Dickens' own description of his times. The only thing I can find fault with is the soundtrack. The "whooshing," "clanging" transitions I find off-putting, but to me a minor flaw in this otherwise outstanding rendition of one of Dickens' most daunting novels.

For me to put finger to keyboard so to speak takes something pretty darned unusual! Bleak House is just that. It is probably the best television I've ever seen and I've seen quite a lot.

I cannot praise this adaptation and the actors highly enough. The production sparkles and one is immediately involved with the story and the characters. I'm writing this with the series almost finished and now wish I'd kept all the recordings I'd made of it. Repeats on the whole are very run of the mill and disappointing but they can repeat this one as often as they like! I too would like it on DVD so I can watch the whole thing over again. Well done BBC..fantastic

This is a great achievement by the BBC -- at last their costume dramas are back on track, with a great cast, all acting their socks off. It is invidious to pick some of them out, but Esther is particularly good (it is not easy to portray a young Dickensian heroine, as sickly sweetness always lurks at hand). Many have rightly praised Mr Guppy, too. Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock is maybe a bit too icy (frozen solid?), but that's what the role calls for, I suppose.

Another excellent feature is the period atmosphere. There is a richness here, running right through the production. The costumes and hair are also very convincing, unlike in some recent period dramas. Here the hair actually flops around as it should, and the costumes look like real clothes.

Some people hate the gimmicky camera work and 'whooshing' noises. These will make the production date. (They'll look ridiculous in a few years' time, I fear), but I didn't find them too distracting.

This must be the BBC's best since the 1995 Pride and Prejudice.