Viewers are hailing the BBC's 2005 adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House as superior to the beloved 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. The 15-episode period drama, streaming free on BBC iPlayer, was penned by Andrew Davies, the same screenwriter who adapted Jane Austen's novel.
The series, directed by Justin Chadwick and Susanna White, features an ensemble cast including Gillian Anderson, Anna Maxwell Martin, Charles Dance, and Carey Mulligan. It originally aired from October 27 to December 16, 2005, and runs approximately eight hours, covering most plotlines and characters from Dickens' original work.
One critic said Davies 'equals, even surpasses, his masterly version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice'. An IMDB user called it 'an extraordinary triumph of the decade', while another described it as 'the finest TV adaptation of a Dickens novel ever made'.
The official synopsis reads: 'Secrets abound in this 2005 television adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel. Fortunes hang in the balance, awaiting the outcome of a legal case in the Court of Chancery in Victorian London.'
