Bronte Boxed Set

Well, Tenant of Wildfell Hall is still unavailable in any format other than VHS and region two but they have come out with a boxed set of three BBC Bronte films. Available November 6th, it can be pre-ordered now and includes the 1983 Jane Eyre with Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke, 1996 Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and 1978 Wuthering Heights. A free imaginary cookie to anyone who can guess why Tenant of Wildfell Hall gets top billing.

From the BBC:

The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall (Dir. Mike Barker, 1996): This is the fantastic BBC adaptation of Anne Bronte's novel.

When Helen Graham becomes the new tenant of the dark, decaying Wildfell Halt, her independent spirit and radical views set her apart from the staid rural community around her. Gilbert Markham, a young farmer, finds himself powerfully drawn to her and a series of dramatic events brings them closer together. But the enigmatic Mrs Graham's unconventional life and behaviour disguise a hidden past with many secrets, secrets the world of Victorian England would rather bury forever...

Jane Eyre (Dir. Julian Amyes, 1983): Jane Eyre (Zelah Clarke) is a mistreated orphan who learns to survive by relying on her independence and intelligence. Her first job in the outside world is governess to the ward of Mr. Rochester (Timothy Dalton), a man of many secrets and mercurial moods. The tentative trust between them slowly develops into romance, but their hopes for happiness will soon be jeopardized by a terrible secret.

Wuthering Heights (Dir. Peter Hammond, 1978): Emily Bronte's classic tale of all-consuming love. When Mr. Earnshaw encounters Heathcliff, a ragamuffin orphan, he kindly brings the boy into his home and makes him part of the family. And from the start, Heathcliff falls hopelessly in love with the daughter of the house, the beautiful, headstrong Catherine. She adores him, too, but when a wealthy neighbour woos her, Catherine's material instincts get the better of her, and she agrees to marry the man. However, Catherine discovers that she cannot forget Heathcliff so easily... and that not even death can make them part...

Actors on Playing Jane and Rochester

Another good thing about a new adaptation is that it brings out all of the previous ones! The Daily Mail posts this survey of mini-interviews with Janes and Edwards past (thanks to siansaska!) Also, the images from this post are from the internet and not my archive so this explains why some are tiny while others are huge:

"Unknown actress Ruth Wilson has shot to fame as Jane Eyre in the BBC’s current adaptation of the classic novel. The series, one would assume, would guarantee her a glittering thespian future. Costume dramas are often a springboard to fame and fortune for young actors: Samantha Morton was 20 when she played Jane in 1997 and then went on to star in Minority Report with Tom Cruise and Enduring Love opposite Daniel Craig. But they can also be a one-way ticket to professional oblivion. Here, we find out what happened to previous Janes and Mr Rochesters, and why they now look at the role as a double-edged sword.


SUSANNAH YORK starred with George C. Scott in the 1970 version of the film. Susannah, 64, is starring in a touring production of The Wings Of The Dove next year. As well as acting, she also writes film scripts. She recalls: At the time I was asked to play the role of Jane, I was quite hot, so to speak. Offers were coming fast and furious, so I was delighted when I got the part. I loved the book and it was a part I had always wanted. I was bewildered and upset, however, when people said I was too pretty to play a plain governess. I have always thought of myself as a character actress and I longed to be noted for my acting ability and hated it when people paid attention to my appearance.

I’ve never thought of myself as pretty and truly felt I was Jane. She’s not a showy character, but she is still passionate, and that’s what I liked about her. People are also saying that Ruth Wilson is too pretty. But I think she has just the right qualities and seems to have the same view and feel of, and feeling for, Jane that I did.

My co-star, George, was a big, craggy, gruff creature, and he was great for a chat. But our approach to filming was totally different. I liked to rehearse, but he would do a scene in one take then go back to playing backgammon. I thought he made a pretty good Rochester, though, as he had a real presence — although he was perhaps a bit too old. I must confess that I have yet to see my perfect Mr Rochester. Even Toby Stephens in the current adaptation, while a great actor, is not the Rochester of the book as he’s a bit too young.

I wouldn’t say I was typecast, but people tended to see me as a more serious actor afterwards. As a result, although I refuse to accept it when people put limitations on me, I’ll admit that it hasn’t always been easy to get roles since.

I don’t regret playing Jane, though. It was a brilliant part. Usually I curl up with embarrassment when I watch my performances, but when I watched my version of Jane Eyre, it seemed to me that I had struck the right note.



MICHAEL JAYSTON played Mr Rochester to Sorcha Cusack’s Jane in the 1973 BBC miniseries of Jane Eyre. Michael, 70, currently on tour with the play Heroes, says: I landed the role of Rochester as a result of a practical joke. My then wife, Heather, sent a funny letter to the director, Joan Craft, saying, ‘It’s about time Michael played Rochester’, and we used to think that I got the part as a result.Looking back, though, I was on a roll at the time. I’d just come from playing several highprofile roles such as Tsar Nicholas II in Nicholas And Alexandra, and A Bequest To The Nation opposite Glenda Jackson. And here was the ultimate romantic part.

Sorcha was only 23 and I was 37. People said there was an electrifying chemistry between us, which was true. I did find her attractive, but we kept things quite jokey on the set to alleviate the intensity. It’s not that romantic performing love scenes on a cold morning at 8am, with a props guy holding a hot fan right next to you to stop your lips freezing. Professionally, playing Rochester didn’t do me much good. I never played a romantic part on TV after that. I was baffled because when it was shown on TV, I received the biggest fan mail I’ve ever had.



SORCHA CUSACK, 57, never made the big time after playing Jane Eyre, but has had roles in such shows as Morse, Casualty and North And South. She is currently starring in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Romeo And Juliet. She says: Jane Eyre was my first TV job and, to be honest, I felt I was rather hopeless. With no major roles under my belt, my performance was flat. I was very lucky to get the role in the first place and I think I got the part because I’m plain-looking and, because I was born and bred in Ireland, I was ten years behind other girls in terms of sophistication. Both were key ingredients to the character.

As a child, people were always saying, ‘Isn’t Sinead [her actress sister] gorgeous?’ But my look was perfect for Jane. Rochester, Michael Jayston, said, ‘After this you’ll be huge,’ and, while we were filming, I did go to my bank manager and say, ‘I won’t need the overdraft any more.’ But I did need it as I didn’t get any big breaks afterwards. There was plenty of work, but not a role that changed the course of my career.Lots of theatre work followed, but several years after playing Jane, I put my career on hold for a while to return to Ireland to care for my late mother, who had heart problems. It’s nice looking back on the whole Jane Eyre period, and it’s lovely that I still get letters saying, ‘You’ll always be my Jane.’



ZELAH CLARKE starred in the lavish 1983 BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre opposite Timothy Dalton, who was said to be too handsome to play the brooding Rochester. Zelah, 52, says: Jane Eyre is the ultimate poisoned chalice. Everyone remembers the Rochesters, but no one recalls the Janes. I hoped the role might be a springboard — I never thought it would force me to retire. Before Jane Eyre I had done lots of TV costume dramas, but not a lead role, so I was thrilled when I got the part. Tim Dalton wasn’t a superstar then — in fact, I had more TV experience than him.

It was depressing when things suddenly stopped after Jane Eyre, especially as I had no idea why. But then I got married and my life changed. There is something undignified about old actors scraping around for work. I would never go back into the theatre; it ruins your social life and breaks up families. If I hadn’t done Jane Eyre, perhaps I’d have felt that I hadn’t proved myself. But I did and I have. Now, looking at the series, it seems old-fashioned, but I was pleased with my performance. Between roles I became interested in art, so perhaps I didn’t have such a desire to be a famous actress after all."

New Spin on the Darcy Moment

Well, we have heard a lot about this being Toby Stephens' 'Darcy Moment.' This article, however has a different approach:

And does this (praise be!) mark an end to the tiresome lionisation of Mr Darcy? I say Mr Darcy, but of course we all know I mean Colin Firth.

[...]

The slow burn ignited, and up in flames went effigies of Rochesters past; William Hurt (impressive sidewhiskers, but a bit bland), Timothy Dalton (rather shifty, but not in a good way), George C Scott (not dishy enough) and of course, Orson Welles (impressive, but I've never forgiven him for Citizen Kane, surely the most over-rated movie ever made).

[...]

All of which brings me back to the disagreeable cult of Mr Darcy, who in recent years has been consistently voted the greatest romantic hero in literature.

Last year a survey of heroes (romantic or otherwise) by the literary website Books.co.uk saw the aloof incumbent of Pemberley Hall triumph over the likes of Romeo Montague, Heathcliff and Rhett Butler, with Mr Rochester languishing very unfairly, I feel, at 15th - just ahead of Mr Pickwick.
It doesn't take a Nostradamus to predict malign forces at work; Mr Darcy's position has rather more to do with Colin Firth than Pride and Prejudice. How else can one account for the fact that Mark Darcy, of Bridget Jones' Diary - also played by Firth - somehow managed to insinuate his way into seventh position.

But why? Charlotte Bronte's Edward Rochester is a passionate, powerful man, by comparison to whom Jane Austen's Fitzwilliam Darcy appears not merely repressed, but sexually continent to the point of constipation. Yes, he's proud and insufferably arrogant, which - shhh! don't tell the feminists - always goes down well with us career girls, but there's something rather unmanly about his prickliness.

Unfortunately for the Darcy camp, last year I witnessed a 'literary death match' between Darcy and Mr Rochester in which Rochester beat Darcy more than two to one. And I'm sorry to say that most of the pro-Darcy aguments were nothing more than 'how could you not like him?' or 'how could you like Rochester? I don't understand.' How can that compare with: "my bride is here because my equal is here," "my second self, and best earthly companion," "I longed for thee with soul and flesh," with his intriguingly complex character? It just wasn't fair.

I think Charlotte Bronte still says it best in this letter where she defends her creation:

Mr. Rochester has a thoughtful nature and a very feeling heart; he is neither selfish nor self-indulgent; he is ill-educated, misguided; errs, when he does err, through rashness and inexperience: he lives for a time as too many other men live, but being radically better than most men, he does not like that degraded life, and is never happy in it. He is taught the severe lessons of experience and has sense to learn wisdom from them. Years improve him; the effervescence of youth foamed away, what is really good in him still remains. His nature is like wine of a good vintage, time cannot sour, but only mellows him.

Preview Clip from Episode Two

Here's a very brief post about an addition to the BBC's website for the new Jane Eyre. The preview clip for episode two is already available. I couldn't find it, but Thisbeciel sent me the tip. So here it is.

It is nice to see that there are tons of blog posts from people who intend to be watching tonight. And it's a little funny to see how many are skeptical- STILL- that it even exists. Really, I have been doing my best since December to get the news around but people are still going to watch this expecting to see Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke. I'm not kidding. They even speak of others assuring them that this is new, but they will not believe it until they see it with their own eyes! Ah well.

ETA: I've made some screencaps of the preview clip:

Wuthering Heights the Graphic Novel


Next month a 'brand new adaptation' of Wuthering Heights will be available- a graphic novel:

A fine addition to this canon is a graphic novel that adapts Emily Bronte's classic and much-loved novel Wuthering Heights. With its generous helping of sex, violence and death, its rain-streaked, barren backdrop of the Haworth moors, its gothic obsessions, make it a perfect topic for comic book treatment.

Sex?... Must have been watching the 1970s film with Mr. Dalton.

The book has been specially commissioned for the Radical Brontes Festival, which runs from September 15-24 and, as its name suggests, aims to paint the women and their work in a very different light to the common misconceptions surrounding them - that they are cosy, romantic novels written by genteel sisters with nothing better to do.

[...]

So what will Bronte purists make of his adaptation? "It is quite a complicated story when you get into it," says Adam. "There are a lot of flashbacks and I had to do away with a lot of the long narrative passages but at the same time keep to the style and preserve the language of the novel.
"But by and large, I think I've been fairly faithful to the original while endeavouring to keep the pace moving. I'm not really worried that I'll upset the Bronte faithful because there haven't been any major changes to the story."

Wuthering Heights: The Graphic Novel will be launched at Waterstone's in Bradford on Saturday, September 16.

Free Day at the Bronte Parsonage Museum

This article is also by Bronte Society PR consultant Diane Benn:

FAMOUS BRONTË MUSEUM WELCOMES ITS 7TH MILLIONTH VISITOR

The Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth were delighted to welcome the 7th millionth visitor through its doors on Saturday 24 June 2006 and plan to celebrate with an open day which will be free to local people.
The lucky visitors were Mr. & Mrs. Derek Stringer from Bowness-on-Windermere who were visiting Haworth to take in the atmospheric home of the talented Brontë family whose novels such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights won them international acclaim.
Alan Bentley, Brontë Parsonage Museum Director, surprised the couple with a bag containing a selection of Brontë gifts, including a collection of the Brontë novels. The couple also received a year’s free membership to the Brontë Society and were invited to be guests of honour at an open day at the Museum on Saturday 29 July 2006.
The Parsonage Museum has enjoyed buoyant visitor figures over the years with the highest visitor figures of 221,000 recorded in 1974. This figure was attributed at the time to the popularity of a TV mini series, The Brontes of Haworth, and the recent success of the Wuthering Heights film staring Timothy Dalton. Soon after it was decided that the large numbers of visitors were damaging the 200 year old building .
Alan Bentley said "to celebrate the 7th millionth visitor is a real honour for the Parsonage Museum. Although there have been many additions and alterations to the Museum since 1928, it remains a place of pilgrimage for thousands of UK and overseas visitors. Our aim at the Parsonage is to extend a warm welcome to all and to provide an authentic interpretation of what life was like for the Brontës in the 1800s". He added "I would like to extend a personal invitation to all members of the public to come and join us on the 29th July and to learn a little more about the world’s most famous literary family".
The planned open day on Saturday 29 July 2006 will be free to local residents within the BD20, BD21 and BD22 postcode areas with normal admission charges applicable to other visitors. Some form of identification will be required for local people to gain access. The fun-filled day will include drama, free guided walks, short talks on the Brontës and a chance to visit the house where the Brontës lived and worked.

The Voice of Fandom or 'The Handsome Mr. Rochester'

Well, now that the new pictures from the BBC have rolled in and everyone has had a chance to take it all in, the reactions are starting to crop up all over the internet. Yesterday I had some thoughts about a very swift change in the direction of some of the internet discussion on this 2006 production. Now, a news source is hinting a the issue. From The Stage:

Jane Eyre. A nicely lavish BBC costume drama ticks several boxes before it’s even in the can, but the spectre of the hit-and-miss Toby Stephens as Rochester has me furrowing my brow in consternation.

I think this means it looks good. I don't quite understand the can imagery. Anyway, Toby Stephens. I have never seen him act before. I have said so in the comments, and some kind soul sent me a link so that I could see him play Hamlet but I thought better of doing that. I don't want to have any expectations. That said, I was very disappointed when I heard that he had been cast because I knew that he had already been in a Bronte film before, and also I really wished to see an unknown actor play the part. Several of my friends, on the other hand (who really really wanted Richard Armitage to play Mr. R...) were less than impressed as well for the same reason cited by the author above. In fact, the vast majority of discussion on the topic was centered around a feeling that he was an odd, perhaps a bad choice.

And then... two days ago, the BBC release this picture (posted earlier) and it all changed. Suddenly, one photograph convinced more and more people that not only could he play the part, why, he would be the very best! I am surprised there aren't bets out there for whether or not he can act better than Timothy Dalton... And this really surprises me, because I am naive and believe that, surely, we would have to see his performance first before we made claims like that.

Some time ago, Bronteana reader Mysticgypsy began a discussion about how we judge actors on their performance as Rochester, whether or not a large part of our decision is based on their appearance. Those who spoke up were unanimous that appearance should not be a factor. But, I think that we now have to admit that quite a lot of it is based on appearance- in practice.

So, no 1940s Detective Treatment for Jane Eyre

From the Saginaw Times, detective novelist Mickey Spillane has died at age 88. In this memorial article we find a quirky reference to Jane Eyre which is pretty amusing:

"Spillane was the first one to produce sexy novels," Russell said. "From that point on, everyone else followed suit."
Spillane's violent, titillating prose made eager readers out of many a 1950s-era young man who lived vicariously through the Hammer character, Russell said.
"Mike Hammer was the guy who was always getting beaten up, who was always broke, and a lot of guys could relate to that," Russell said.
"Yet Hammer always got the woman, the glamorous, movie starlet-type woman. The bombshells. Spillane's women were much different from the women you found in books like 'Jane Eyre."'

Perhaps not, but since the 1960s an idea has been circulating that Rochester would make a great secret agent, which is similar to the thrilling detective I suppose. Someone once said that James Bond was a literary descendent of Heathcliff and Mr Rochester, for his byronism. And at least two of the most aclaimed actors to play Mr Rochester did play secret agents: Timothy Dalton was Bond, of course. Michael Jayston was considered for the part as well and he played Quiller a secret agent who never carried a gun but used his wits alone. And, I've always thought that Jasper Fforde's rendition of the character was very secret agent like.

Jane Eyre 1973 and 'The Pleasure of Intertextuality'- a Note


I have been reading Donna Marie Nudd's 'Pleasure of Intertextuality' on the various film adaptations of Jane Eyre, once again. This time I recall the BBC's production from 1973. The very first post in this, the very first Bronte studies blog, was in response to this very issue. In it I pointed out that the production did indeed feature the gyspy scene, which Nudd claims is only present in one film version- the BBC's 1983 version with Zelah Clark and Timothy Dalton. I have realised there are more of Nudd's claims challenged by the 1973 version.

She concludes her article with a barrage of questions- each very telling, and stimulating. Why is the Christian dialogue and extensive reading habits of Helen Burns and St.John Rivers omitted or downplayed? In the 1973 production Helen quotes Latin as well as Samuel Johnson for Miss Temple, I have noticed no downplaying of the Christian dialogue of either characters. Why is the typhus epidemic omitted? Likewise, it is not omitted. Why has there only been one 'plain' actress cast as Jane? Sorcha Cusack seems plain enough to me, although her eyes are beautiful. I thinks she looks rather like Charlotte Bronte, in fact... Why is Rochester seldom physically disfigured at the end? This production does shy away from actually showing the disfigurement but it is acknowledged. Why has there 'never been a female director?' Jane Eyre 1973 was directed by Joan Craft. And of course, there is the gypsy scene. Nudd's speculation that the gypsy scene is usually cut to avoid making Rochester seem effeminate is odd considering the 1973 version, wherein Rochester speaks in a falsetto for that scene rather than take on the more masculine tones of a hoarse older woman. In other words, she sounds feminine.

Beginning of a Friendship- and Really Bad Films and A really Good One.

Yes, I'm still here! Nothing happened- I just went back to school. ;) In fact, I've been applying to the first of my three graduate programs. So far, so good! i do have some off topic notices for some of my readers, which I will take the privledge of including in this 'public' part of the weblog. If anyone has emailed me in the last little while, be informed that my browser is not allowing me to check my email often- this happened nearly all week. Now that I'm at the university this shouldn't be a problem, but in case you are wondering why I have not written back, this is why. For others, my book was in the press on Monday and I should have a copy of it tomorrow! I'll see about the particulars for those who would like a copy of some really bad poetry.

Speaking of the editing class, I am now taking the Publishing course. We were asked to introduce ourselves and tell the class a few things including what in our opinion is the worst book to film adaptation. I'm ...proud? to say that the Brontes managed to get two out of the 20 bad films mentioned! The first was an unspecified "Withering Heights" (which was once a parody of Wuthering Heights- but I am pretty sure he didn't mean that)and then the 1970 version of Jane Eyre with George C. Scott (that would be my declaration ;). Actually, no, there were three. I went on to explain that I usually enjoy bad films so long as they are bad in the right sort of way- and when they asked me for an example, why, I had to mention the 1997 Jane Eyre with poor Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds. What a horrid screenplay. But so funny.

Thanks to Thisbeciel from the League of the Extraordinarily Rochester Obsessed, I can at least bring you an unhealthy number of screencaps from the 1983 version of Jane Eyre, with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton!

JE 83 Ep 1-2 Episodes 1 and 2 obviously. There are 53 pictures.
JE 83 Ep 3-4 94 pictures
JE 83 Ep 5-6 111 pictures
JE 83 Ep 7 76 pictures
JE 83 Ep 8-9 87 pictures
JE 83 Ep 10-11 95 pictures

Stop that! ...It's silly!

I think this is the first full-length musical parody I've come across. Jane Eyre the Musical 'Decomposed' It's very cute. There have also been many fan fiction parodies of the novel, of course. Some of these have since vanished. The only one I have on hand, in fact, is my own. I think I have mentioned it before. There is a story called 'Whose Lair is it Anyway?' in which all of the various representations of Christine Daae and Erik from Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera appear in the same place at the same time. A friend challenged me to do with same with Jane Eyre- especially since I have seen an obscene number of JE adaptations! Only I know how many.. actually, I don't even know how many. I call it 'Something Betweeny in the County ___shire". Some excerpts from the latest installments:

“Name’s Rochester, Dalton!Rochester.” Nods all around. “I’ve plans of Thornfield Hall on a microfilm in the bronze pin of my cravat.” He removed this item and carefully inserted it into his shoe. It beeped quietly. He continued his speech while he walked over to one of the horses. “There has been a lot of interest lately in biscuits and brandy-” he gingerly tapped the pommel of his horse’s saddle and continued talking while part of the back and haunches of the animal made a smart ‘click’ and flipped up to reveal a row of twinkling indicator lights, a turntable and a monitor.

I must confess that writing for Orson Wells-Rochester was so much fun!

"The what?!" Gasped the deep-chested man, only the gasp betraying his heightened agitation... his eyes already staring as wildly as humanly possible. It was difficult to discern what this outburst portended. Jayston!Rochester certainly didn't know.

"The British Broadcasting Corporation. Sir, why is your cloak still stirring- there's no wind-"

"Never ask about that!" Thundered the staring man, before calming again. "Never... never ask about that. It is too awful."

"Is it?" Jayston!Rochester shook his head after taking one glance at the flapping cloak. "Ah, you're Mr. Welles."

All of them are fun- the Janes as well, especially Bruce-Jane who is "teh crazypants" as they say.

"Nyrrrrrrrrrrraaaaah!" He whirled around just in time to catch Bruce!Jane in mid-air, in mid-pounce. She knocked him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him in the process but he soon recovered. Somehow he managed to meet her attack but not before she had planted a heavy right into him between his head and shoulders.

"Good Lord!" exclaimed Welles!Rochester. "It's Gateshead all over again!" Desperate was the struggle. Several times Hinds!Rochester managed to wrestle her into a bear hug as she muttered something incomprehensible in her rage- something like 'buz-za-puh!'. Once he was whipped in the eye by one of her curls, but lucky for him he had closed his eyes in time.

The others were just as fun to write for, don't get me wrong!

"It's fear- poor man's terrified out of his wits by that titaness yonder- a veritable daughter of Lilith and the most pernicious of primordial giants."

"What a lovely voice you have!"

"I'm from the Shakespearian stage."

Actors on playing Mr Rochester...Part One.

Thanks are due to thisbeciel, and biedroneczka!

William Hurt:

“I had read the book a long time ago, and when the project was first mooted, I went back to the book and was blown away by it. The more I delved, the more inspired I became by it. It is a great work of art and it has been a privilege to spend time with it,” says William Hurt.

“Rochester is a wonderful character; he rises out a great romantic figure with tremendous energy and power. Of course I have to throw away everything that is not useful in realizing the work – other people’s reputations, their vision, don’t have to be mine. I can’t think of him as a hero, I have to let the structure of the work do that. I can only think of him as a human being or I give myself added pressure if I see him as a famous role with a lot of expectations riding on the piece. As an actor I have to put those expectations aside and look at him freshly: he is very much at the centre of many conflicting loyalties; he is compelled and repelled, and he is really at the crossroads of many different forces. The fact that other actors have played him is not important: roles are made to be played by different actors. What frightens me is what Charlotte Brontë might think of me as Rochester!”

Timothy Dalton:

"I think why it worked so well was because, in truth, it's such a good part. What a blow to the image! Rochester is tough and hard, short-tempered and curt on the one hand, and concealing a soul that's been hurt and made sensitive. So you have a lot of the qualities that really appeal to women in Rochester, and I was simply lucky enough to be playing him.

"When I play another kind of character that is not so pleasant I get just a trickle of letters. Some women who've seen several things I've done write in to tell me when I've done something right, and when I've done something wrong, along the lines of 'I wish you wouldn't do this kind of thing. I much preferred you as Heathcliff. Why don't you do more things like that?'

"The fact is, we've all got to work; we have all got to do the parts that are offered to us, whether they turn out ultimately to be good or bad. In America they would largely agree with my correspondents: if you find an image that works, then stick with it. So there's some sense in that; maybe I should play Rochester for the rest of my life!

"There's got to be a bit of yourself in it. I don't think you can be a good actor unless you reveal something of yourself. You're revealing a character through the knowledge you have of yourself and the life around you. Yes, I can see certain elements of myself in Rochester... Of course, Rochester was no fisherman, while fishing is my obsession."

Next time... Michael Jayston and Ciaran Hinds.

At last! The idea for this blog, a blog about the Brontes (and I learn now that my settings will not allow umlauts- ;) had been in my thoughts for a few weeks. What will I write about? I have no idea, but my personal blog is so full of posts about the Brontes that this really seems like a small step to take. I will find something to talk about, I'm sure!

Today, for example, is a special day. Thisbeciel- a good friend of mine, and fellow Bronte enthusiast, has just recieved her 1 000th hit at her website. This website is dedicated to the 1973 BBC adaptation of Charlotte's Jane Eyre. http://www.geocities.com/thisbeciel/janeeyre.html

I only came across this version last year, after a visit to http://www.imdb.com . After doing a search for Jane Eyre I discovered that there was a message board on that website devoted to this mini-series. It was there that I met someone who was kind enough to send me a copy of a recording she had made when it aired 20 some odd years ago. I took in all of the praise that was heaped on it by those at the board, and was excited but skeptical about what would arrive shortly. I had already seen all of the films of Jane Eyre as well as a production of the Gordon/Caird musical.

My first reaction was shock. Pleasure followed, and what I can only describe as bliss. When I say that my reaction was shock, I am not exaggerating because at one point I noticed that my mouth was open in shock at what I was seeing. I cannot say enough about the performances of Sorcha Cusack and Michael Jayston, and so I will leave that for another time. But I will say, I am still astonished that the BBC have not released it. I cannot understand it. Not only is the acting of the leads as well as the supporting cast is superb, the screenplay is also excellent. It has a power over those who see it- as is attested by fans of the series who have last seen it 30 years ago but still remember being so moved that they long to see it again.

One last note- I think that there has not been any recognition of this series by those journals compiling adaptations of the Brontes' works. I recently bought a copy of the 3rd Norton Critical Edition of Jane Eyre (edited by Richard J. Dunn) which has an excellent article on adaptations- "The Pleasure of Intertextuality: Reading Jane Eyre Television and Film Adaptations" by Donna Marie Nudd. It states, however, that there has only been one version produced which includes the Gypsy scene. Not so. The scene appears in the 1983 BBC adaptation (with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton in the leads) but it is also in the 1973 adaptation. Here's evidence enough, I think:

Michael Jayston as Mr. Rochester

There, I knew I would find something to say! :D Congradulations, Thisbeciel! ...And BBC? ...Release the 1973 Jane Eyre! (Don't make me gather my friends and start picketting- we already have our catchy war cry).