I’m not wild about this trailer, because it’s a horrible marketing pitch and the quality isn’t great, but here it is anyway because it’s the only thing I can find.
Review:
This miniseries is so very, very good. Death, secrets, romance, betrayal – it’s as addicting as any soap opera.
Andrew Davies (Pride & Prejudice, Bridget Jones’ Diary) penned the adaptation, and he was more than equal to the challenge of adapting Dickens’ labrynthine tome for television. Davies divided this highly serialized drama into 16 half hour episodes, all easily digestible and highly addictive. This format actually holds true to the original text, which was first published in twenty monthly installments between March 1852 and September 1853.
Davies does full justice to the spirit of the source material and with excellent direction and a superbly talented cast – Denis Lawson (who aside from being an acclaimed theater actor also played Wedge Antilles in Star Wars), Gillian Anderson, Charles Dance, and Carey Mulligan are just a few of the names – what more could you want from a period adaptation?
Plot-wise, there is one secret that’s rather blatantly obvious, given that we know all the separate plots will tie together in the end, but watching the scheming and blackmailing surrounding that “secret” is so much fun you won’t mind the lack of mystery.
Even if you’ve never read a Dickens book in your life, you will still enjoy this miniseries. No knowledge of the source material required – though after you watch this, you will understand why Bleak House is considered by many to be Dickens’ best work. I should warn you, however -Dickens loves to throw a ton of names and faces at you all at once, and there are lots of separate story threads to follow. You’ll probably be confused for the first half hour, but if you make it over the hump, you will be glued to your television for the next 7 1/2 hours.
In the world of literary adaptations, it doesn’t get better than this.
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