27 October, 2005 | Leave a Comment
English majors, brace yourselves! Charles Dickens’s doorstop classic Bleak House has been lavishly adapted for BBC One. The first instalment of FIFTEEN episodes airs tonight. After the hour-long debut, the drama will be shown in 30-minute increments spread out over the next seven weeks. Crikey! The BBC is hoping viewers will get hooked on the soap opera format, which mirrors the way the novel was originally serialized. Dickens published Bleak House in nineteen separate instalments, each one ending with a cliff-hanger to keep ye olde Victorians hungry for more.
Andrew Davies, who wrote the screenplay for the beloved adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth, is the evil genius behind the Dickens extravaganza. He also adapted Bridget Jones’s Diary, but we can’t hold that against him – I’m sure he was hard up for cash or forced at gunpoint. Anyway, the cast of practically thousands features Agent Scully, aka Gillian Anderson, in a leading role as Lady Dedlock. I saw Anderson, who now lives in London, interviewed on a chat show a few days ago. She has taken to speaking in a British accent in real life. How pretentious!
A final note to my American friends who are weeping over the Dickensian fun they’ll be missing: Don’t fret. Bleak House is co-produced by WGBH Boston, which means that in no time it’ll be shown on a Masterpiece Theatre near you.
Anglofille said @ 2:22 pm | london & uk, pop culture |
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Update…
I watched the first episode tonight. It was fantastic!
–Sarai aka Anglofille
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I liked it very muchly.
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I guess I’ll have to wait for Bleak House to come overseas so that I can watch it!
(I like the cute picture of you!!!)
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Anonymous Says:
November 13th, 2005 at 11:11 pmI love the new “Bleak House.” Speaking of Gillian Anderson, she lived for 11 years in London as a child, so perhaps it’s her American accent that is pretentious.
