Season 15 - Bleak House (1985-1986)
If you've only seen the Gillian Anderson adaptation of Bleak House you might think with the star power of the late Dame Diana Rigg playing the role of Lady Honoria Dedlock in this older adaptation she would be equally the star that Gillian Anderson was. You'd be wrong. This version showcases all the characters more evenly than the Andrew Davies adaptation. Yes, there are omissions here and there, there's nary a Turveydrop in sight, but it makes the interpretation different enough that you can enjoy both equally. The highlight of this version being that Bleak House has become the William Guppy show. Jonathan Moore as William Guppy is the Steve 'The Hair' Harrington of Dickensian London! I always thought Burn Gorman was a good casting choice in the Andrew Davies adaptation because he kind of looks like a fish, a true guppy if you will... But now I know who the real Guppy is, Jonathan Moore. There was such joy in watching his smarm. He took each and every scene he was in to the next level, which is impressive in that he witnesses the spontaneous human combustion of Krook in the most magnificent eighties horror film way that literally anyone could have made the scene work. If there was music it could have been an eighties music video it was that epic. Yet he made it even better. But one of the best scenes is Esther's rejection of his proposal of marriage. AKA the proposal of epic failure. It was staged in such a way that it stretched out the awkwardness. Esther sits down in front of the hearth. This hearth has a bench-like seat that extends the entire length of the room. So every time Guppy moves in for the romantic gesture, Esther slides further away from him. Perfect. Comic. Timing. Of course, this being Bleak House, it's not all laughs, this adaptation wanted to make sure you knew that Dickensian London was all about mud, mud, mud, and then some more mud. Then factor in the rain and the fog and I'm actually surprised that the street sets didn't claim any victims from the cast and crew. And oh, this cast! Denholm Elliott, Peter Vaughn, and the aforementioned Dame Diana Rigg! And Esther as she should have been, not Anna Maxwell Martin but Suzanne Burden! As my Dad pointed out when Diana Rigg as Lady Dedlock and Peter Vaughn as Tulkinghorn spare, sometimes it's just an honor to get to watch two magnificent actors at the top of their game go at it. I couldn't agree more.
Sometimes there is an adaptation so perfect that you don't know which came first for you, reading the book or watching the adaptation. This is how it is for me with The Moonstone, the two are forever intertwined and my story is a mystery even to myself. On the shelves of our library cum television room we had the complete set of the Franklin Library's Masterpieces of Mystery, The Moonstone being one of the volumes, with it's faux red leather binding and colorfully garish illustration on the cover. As an aside, seeing as The Moonstone laid the groundwork for the entire detective genre if the Franklin Library hadn't included it it would have been a major oversight. Now the mystery becomes did I pick up that volume prior to one Sunday night when I was ensconced in my corner of the couch and watched a few minutes of The Moonstone with my mother or not? I remember sitting there so clearly, the warm light, the copy of The Moonstone on the shelf near my right shoulder. I'm pretty sure I didn't watch more than a few minutes of the movie because I was all about reading the book before watching the adaptation. At that time it was a strict rule in my life. But did I bend the rules? Later events might indicate I did... Maybe I'll claim that I was sleepwalking like Franklin Blake? Eventually I did pick up The Moonstone to read and the entire time I kept thinking, damn, have I read this before? I swear I've read this before... Or had I just watched the movie? This is compounded by the fact that when reading the book the character of the old house steward Gabriel Betteredge came into my mind as the incomparable Peter Vaughn. He was just there, in my head, and I accepted it as fact. Fast forward to me watching or perhaps re-watching the film and Peter Vaughn IS in it as Betteredge. Thinking of this which came first the chicken or the egg mystery just does my head it. But one thing is confirmed no matter what order events happened in, this is the best adaptation of The Moonstone you could hope to find. It's literally my headcanon. 
