Word: dedlock
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...eight hours, this adaptation of Charles Dickens' tale of an interminable inheritance case is quite nimble a feat for writer Andrew Davies. The Masterpiece Theatre coproduction captures the novel's satire, melodrama and horror-movie suspense without undercutting any of those disparate tones. Gillian Anderson is haunting as Lady Dedlock, a claimant tormented by the mystery of a long-lost lover. But the emotional heart of the story is Esther (Anna Maxwell Martin), the sensible orphan caught up in the suit. This is law drama such as Boston Legal's David E. Kelley can only dream about...
...step above the general run of tony, tasteful and sometimes tedious British drawing-room dramas that arrive regularly on these shores. There is, for one thing, scarcely a drawing room to be found. The beautifully detailed production moves with ease from the grand country estate of Lord and Lady Dedlock (Robin Bailey and Diana Rigg) to the drab chambers of Chancery and into the sad, grimy streets of London slums. South African Director Ross Devenish shot much of the drama in moody semidarkness, with scenes lit only by the soft glow of a lantern or the flickering of candlelight...
...main story line is sturdily intact, Dickens' cry of outrage at society's injustice is heard loud and clear, and some memorable characters are brought to glorious life. Rigg, as Lady Dedlock, is a model of aristocratic propriety starting to crack as her world threatens to unravel. Suzanne Burden as the heroine, Esther Summerson, is just as sweet, sensible and faintly dull as Dickens portrayed her. Den-holm Elliott, as Esther's kindly guardian John Jarndyce, invests a quiet role with remarkable compassion and grace...
...main trouble with it all is that it's no longer Bleak House. Its story might just squeak through as something called Lady Dedlock's Secret, though even the book's main plot gets misted over, besides being by now almost too stagy for the stage. And though the drastic cutting at times has its points-it largely silences sweet, virtuous-Esther Summerson, that English cousin of Elsie Dinsmore-it far oftener has its penalties. All but vanished are the things that really make Bleak House notable-its satire on the Court of Chancery, its vast, varied...
Margaret Anglin gives a fine performance, both as Hortense and Lady Dedlock; Mr. Tulkinghorn (John Ivancowich) is a snooping, grim figure; and a little woolly dog amuses everyone by bouncing about the stage. As drama, Lady Dedlock is heavy rather than strong, it contains too much...