In his introduction to the TV tie - in edition of "Bleak House" Professor Terry Eagleton writes:- "Like most Dickens novels,"Bleak House" is a wonderfully overpopulated work,crammed to the seams with grotesques,eccentrics,amiable idiots and moral monstrosities". The first task of adaptor Andrew Davis was,to many Dickens scholars, sheer sacrilege,the winnowing down of huge number of characters that pop up in various places in the narrative,seemingly unconnected,but all part of the author's overall vision of and structure for his work. Mr Davis was in a "no win" situation as far as the academics were concerned and there was general discontent in the Ivory Tower community that their hero's great work was to be reduced - as they saw it - to the level of a soap opera for the edification of the unwashed.It had clearly escaped their closed minds that Dickens had written the book in the first place with an intention not so far removed from the one they abhorred. In the event he succeeded brilliantly,producing not "Bleak House Lite", as many had feared,but a production that caught the core values of the novel and evoked the look and feel of the period perfectly. My only criticism - and it is a minor one - is that it occasionally yields to the temptation common to many post 80s prestigious TV series where the makers are apparently compelled to exercise the techniques they acquired during their apprenticeship in the industry which,as often as not,involved the making of commercials.By their very nature these require that their makers get to the point very quickly with the maximum of noise and flash and with a preponderance of big close-ups and high impact-making shots.It works fine if you're selling a BMW and have to pack it all into 30 seconds but is out of place in an adaptation of a 19th century novel.Having said that,so brilliant was the overall production that I found myself in the end ignoring their little tricks,forgiving them even,and waiting patiently like an indulgent parent for the children to stop showing off. Because when it's on track,"Bleak House" is Television at its highest level.Superbly adapted from a novel that's more accessible than you might think,it's funny.thrilling and moving by turns. It has been carefully cast,rather daringly in some cases,and all the care shows on the screen. Television is of course a huge consumer of talent with hundreds of channels working 24 hours a day.In those circumstances it is hardly surprising that majority of material it turns out is,to put it kindly,mediocre.All the more reason therefore to celebrate when it gets something so right,because despite my misgivings,"Bleak House" is,in my opinion,the best TV drama series since "Roads to Freedom". If you have never read Dickens and doubt his ability to entertain and amuse a 21st century audience I suggest you call at a Public Library,seek out "Bleak House" and simply read Chapter 21 "The Smallweed Family".You will find therein as funny,moving and true a document as you are ever likely to read,by a writer whose perception of the human condition has never been equalled
Review of Bleak House
