I haven't read the novel, this being my first exposure to the story. I chose to watch this version because it is 6 hours long and from experience I understand that to be a minimum length of time in which to explore a long move of depth.
The main praise it that one senses that it strives to be thorough and to omit as little of the original characters and plot strands (there are many) as possible. This is commendable in my opinion, as I am someone who watches literary adaptations wishing to gain as a good of an understanding of the source text as possible. However, it is a high risk approach as there is the very real possibility of the show losing focus and trying to spread itself too thinly. This adaptation tows that line carefully, however, does threaten at a number of points to lose itself (though never quite does). I was just about able to follow the story and the context of the scenes and the link between the characters and the plots without it jarring or having to resort to Wikipedia for background research into the characters. Though I cannot critique Dickens as I have not read the novel, I sense that the novel is one of his more spread out in terms of plot and character strands hence the show's challenge in managing this. The show therefore would have benefited from some more exposition scenes in introducing certain characters so that we had a better understanding of them as they were introduced. This would have taken more time but would have been time well spent for such an epic novel.
The acting was first rate all round, except the guy who plays Lizzie Hexham's brother who appeared amateurish. David Morrissey as Headstone was a joy to watch and significantly emotionally affecting. You felt all of his turmoil and whenever he was on screen you never knew what he was going to do next which made for great tension and engagement! His interactions with David Bradley's Rogue Riderhood were also wonderful to watch and Bradley played this part wonderfully.
The production values are what you would expect for 90s television. Not a huge budget and very little visual effects, but the camerawork and editing is often dynamic (as opposed to the static shots you get when you watch older television adaptations) meaning that it is very watchable and remains engaging for a modern audience.
The main praise it that one senses that it strives to be thorough and to omit as little of the original characters and plot strands (there are many) as possible. This is commendable in my opinion, as I am someone who watches literary adaptations wishing to gain as a good of an understanding of the source text as possible. However, it is a high risk approach as there is the very real possibility of the show losing focus and trying to spread itself too thinly. This adaptation tows that line carefully, however, does threaten at a number of points to lose itself (though never quite does). I was just about able to follow the story and the context of the scenes and the link between the characters and the plots without it jarring or having to resort to Wikipedia for background research into the characters. Though I cannot critique Dickens as I have not read the novel, I sense that the novel is one of his more spread out in terms of plot and character strands hence the show's challenge in managing this. The show therefore would have benefited from some more exposition scenes in introducing certain characters so that we had a better understanding of them as they were introduced. This would have taken more time but would have been time well spent for such an epic novel.
The acting was first rate all round, except the guy who plays Lizzie Hexham's brother who appeared amateurish. David Morrissey as Headstone was a joy to watch and significantly emotionally affecting. You felt all of his turmoil and whenever he was on screen you never knew what he was going to do next which made for great tension and engagement! His interactions with David Bradley's Rogue Riderhood were also wonderful to watch and Bradley played this part wonderfully.
The production values are what you would expect for 90s television. Not a huge budget and very little visual effects, but the camerawork and editing is often dynamic (as opposed to the static shots you get when you watch older television adaptations) meaning that it is very watchable and remains engaging for a modern audience.