GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

ellethekitty it is not an easy thing to do Charles Dickens without being tedious, in my opinion. The first few episodes of this are a little bit slow, but once it gets in full swing, it is a great production. The adaptation, the music, the pace, for the most part are excellent. The main exception being Gillian Anderson, who I expected to like, but couldn't. It seems to me that she thinks she is being understated in her stiff, aloof portrayal of lady Dedlock. She succeeds in looking beautiful and being mysterious, but I think it is over-acted. I have never seen someone try so hard to be stoic and restrained, with no appearance of the presence of the emotions that supposedly need to be held back so. It seems to me that stony unsmiling face with a slight pucker of the lips is a default she uses in lieu of any actual acting. I have nothing against her in general, but she has done something similar in both The Fall and x-files, and I think its beginning to be a gimmicky aloofness that doesn't always work. The other characters are superbly cast and well acted.

stephenrtod Any intelligent viewer who loves good movies and finds intricate 19th century novels enjoyable - will find this rendition of Dickens' greatest novel enjoyable.I have always enjoyed reading Dickens. Of his 18 novels, I have read 9 of them and taught 8 of those. I've read "Bleak House" many times and taught it twice to an advanced high school class. I've also seen the earlier adaptation of "Bleak House" starring Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliott. This one is very good.This adaptation is like a kaleidoscope. Action swirls and patterns keep changing and deepening. Once Dickens introduces a character - or any detail - it sticks and builds - like a snowball rolling downhill and looming to boulder size.This is a mystery wrapped up in a love story wrapped up in a portrait of England circa 1820's.Gillian Anderson's portrayal of Lady Dedlock is minimalist and very effective; she displays a surgeon's skill with words, timing, pauses, emphasis, gestures, letting a glance, the crumble of her shoulders, and the shadows of her past tell the story.I bought the boxed set and watch it every now and then. It's the kind of video that would make me want to read the book had I never read it. It still leads me back to re-read the classic.

TheLittleSongbird The book Bleak House I found rather complicated to be honest with you, and I didn't understand much of the law stuff. But that didn't deter me from watching this superb mini-series, which in every aspect was infinitely better than I expected.The series' main merit is the period detail. I thought the series captured the Victorian Era perfectly, with its issue of class and the generally dangerous living conditions, just like the 1995 mini-series of Pride and Prejusice did with the late 18th century. The mini-series visually looked splendid, with excellent costumes and well designed sets.The script was very intelligent, and the direction was slick. The pace was perfectly fine, and the characters were easy to relate to. Excellent music as well.Another high point was the acting, with outstanding performances from Gillian Anderson as Lady Deadlock, Charles Dance as Tulkinghorn as Dennis Lawson as Jarndyce. Anna Maxwell Martin while not as impressive as Lawson, Anderson and Dance still turned in a lovely performance. In more secondary roles were Hugo Speer,Nathaniel Parker, Johnny Vegas, Burn Gorman Matthew Kelly and my favourite Allun Armstrong as Inspector Bucket. I loved Phil Davis as Smallweed too.All in all, a hugely satisfying period drama series, that is possibly the best TV drama of 2005. 10/10 Bethany Cox.

sheepie87 When I saw Andrew Davies was the screenwriter, I knew it would be good; after all, he did write the script for Pride & Prejudice, my favorite movie and perhaps the BBC's most well- known production. I really can't say more than the summary title: extraordinary! I loved the camera work (the quick cuts I liked, unlike others). The dark filtering was quite good as well. Anna Maxwell Martin--well, now I cannot imagine another Esther. Gillian Anderson too was just amazing as Lady Deadlock. Absolutely stunning, each word drawn out coldly behind her mask of rank, but her meeting with Esther was magical in a completely different way. I suppose I could praise each character, but that would be dreadfully boring; you'd be much better off delving into the book. Of course, I would suggest reading Bleak House first.However, I did give this adaptation 9 stars because of two reasons: 1) the lack of humor that was so delightful in the book. Dickens is mercilessly funny and caustic and none of that really translated through to the screen, although I can see the point in keeping it all quite dramatic. 2) The way they portrayed John Jarndyce's relationship with Esther. He seemed much more self-serving in this version, and much more attracted to Esther than I made him out to be in the book. More human, I suppose, than the sweet and perfectly good Guardian of the book. This does not in any way degrade Denis Lawson's performance, which was, I think, actually the standout of the piece. The fact that he also played Wedge Antilles in the best movie trilogy ever also helps in my estimation!All in all, beautiful, marvelous, a bit too dark, but altogether an extremely good production. But don't forget to read the book first ;)