Review of Bleak House

You rarely see television OR movie writing this good. "Bleak House" was a landmark transfer of a Dickens novel to the small screen. It must have really suffered, i.e. all sliced up in short episodes; therefore, I consider myself lucky indeed to have seen it on DVD. I was able to let it roll for long-time periods. And I did! The production design, costumes, and things related are outstanding; the photography was also superior. But it is the writing and the acting, when put together, that enabled "Bleak House" to rise way above most other television and screen work. The positive characters are your usual Dickens characters, almost too good to be believed, but writer Andrew Davis handled that very well. It was the rich assortment of villains,e.g. human ragbags, diverse lowlifes -- along with some outright criminals-- that just overwhelmed me. Special mention must be given to Charles Dance (Mr. Tulkington), Philip Davis (Smallweed), Burn Gorman (Guppy) and Nathaniel Parker (Skimpole) for assembling into one of the greatest most repugnant, morally reprehensible group of humans that ever populated a single television or movie production. This, once again, proved that a drama is only as good as its villains! Boy, the television adaption of "Bleak House" went a long ways to prove that. Hats off to this wonderful creative drama.