Wuthering Heights (2009 television serial)
Encyclopedia
Wuthering Heights is a two-part ITV
television serial adaptation of the novel Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
. The episodes were adapted for the screen by Peter Bowker
and directed by Coky Giedroyc
. The programme stars Tom Hardy
and Charlotte Riley
in the roles of the famous lovers Heathcliff
and Catherine or 'Cathy' Earnshaw
.
The series was first broadcast in January 2009 in the US, as part of PBS's Masterpiece Classic programming. It eventually aired in the UK in two separate 90-minute installments on consecutive nights, on 30 and 31 August 2009. It was broadcast on the terrestrial network ITV1
, and in early 2010 on STV in Scotland.
Based on the classic novel by Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights is a story of love, obsession, hate and revenge. The protagonists, Cathy and Heathcliff, form a love that is dark and destructive and affects the lives of everyone around them.
He noted that the book had previously proved "stubbornly unadaptable", the most successful version being the Hollywood picture starring Laurence Olivier, which succeeded because "with classic Hollywood ruthlessness they filleted out the Cathy/Heathcliff story and ditched the rest of the plot. It's a great film but it does the novel a disservice."
Bowker hoped to "open up some of the other themes, not least the story of how damage is passed down through generations, how revenge poisons the innocent and the guilty, how the destructive nature of hate always threatens to overwhelm the redemptive power of love" but acknowledged that "structurally, the novel is notoriously difficult"
Differences from the Novel
Faced with this "complex and sometimes frustrating structure" Bowker decided to reassemble the plot of the novel in chronological order and read it again. He credits the "exercise in literary vandalism" as "a breakthrough moment in pointing to the book's adaptability". In his version, Bowker "decided to drop [the original narrator] Lockwood altogether and absorb Nelly's [partial narration] into the main drama".
Bowker also shuffled with the original organisation of the flashback episodes, instead beginning his drama "at the moment when Linton is delivered by the dying Edgar to the old Heathcliff at the Heights", rather than through the visitor Lockwood's arrival at the estate. He suggested this reshuffle would increase audience interest; as the story begins "two men hate each other and we don't know why. The Kind Man is giving his ailing nephew to the Monster and we don't know why. Start with a mystery". Bowker also found this introduction gave "the story of the younger generation the room it deserves".
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
television serial adaptation of the novel Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
by Emily Brontë
Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother...
. The episodes were adapted for the screen by Peter Bowker
Peter Bowker
Peter Bowker is a British playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for the television serials Blackpool , a musical drama about a shady casino owner; Occupation , which follows three military servicemen adjusting to civilian life after a tour of duty in Iraq; and Desperate Romantics , a...
and directed by Coky Giedroyc
Coky Giedroyc
-Personal life:The elder sister of actress, presenter and writer Mel Giedroyc, she grew up in Leatherhead, Surrey. Her father is Michal Giedroyc, a historian of Polish-Lithuanian descent who came to England in 1947. She attended Bristol University, where she first began making films...
. The programme stars Tom Hardy
Tom Hardy
Edward Thomas "Tom" Hardy is an English actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the 2008 British film Bronson, the character of Eames in Inception, and the villain Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis...
and Charlotte Riley
Charlotte Riley
Charlotte Riley is an English actress. She is best known for her role Sarah Hurst in Easy Virtue and as Catherine Earnshaw in ITV's adaptation of Wuthering Heights.-Personal life:...
in the roles of the famous lovers Heathcliff
Heathcliff
Heathcliff may refer to:* Heathcliff , a comic strip about a cat of the same name** Heathcliff , a cartoon based on the above comic strip, produced by Ruby-Spears...
and Catherine or 'Cathy' Earnshaw
Catherine Earnshaw
Catherine Earnshaw, known as Catherine Linton after her marriage, is the main female protagonist of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights....
.
The series was first broadcast in January 2009 in the US, as part of PBS's Masterpiece Classic programming. It eventually aired in the UK in two separate 90-minute installments on consecutive nights, on 30 and 31 August 2009. It was broadcast on the terrestrial network ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
, and in early 2010 on STV in Scotland.
Plot synopsis
For an in-depth account of the plot, See Main Article: Wuthering HeightsWuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
Based on the classic novel by Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights is a story of love, obsession, hate and revenge. The protagonists, Cathy and Heathcliff, form a love that is dark and destructive and affects the lives of everyone around them.
Primary Characters
- Tom HardyTom HardyEdward Thomas "Tom" Hardy is an English actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the 2008 British film Bronson, the character of Eames in Inception, and the villain Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis...
as HeathcliffHeathcliffHeathcliff may refer to:* Heathcliff , a comic strip about a cat of the same name** Heathcliff , a cartoon based on the above comic strip, produced by Ruby-Spears...
- Heathcliff, an orphan, is brought to Wuthering Heights as a child after Mr Earnshaw finds him living rough on the streets of Liverpool. At first he is resented by his foster siblings, Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw. Eventually Cathy comes to love him, whereas Hindley always sees him as an interloper. Heathcliff is eventually consumed by jealousy and hate when Cathy marries Edgar.
- Charlotte RileyCharlotte RileyCharlotte Riley is an English actress. She is best known for her role Sarah Hurst in Easy Virtue and as Catherine Earnshaw in ITV's adaptation of Wuthering Heights.-Personal life:...
as Catherine EarnshawCatherine EarnshawCatherine Earnshaw, known as Catherine Linton after her marriage, is the main female protagonist of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights....
- Daughter of Mr Earnshaw, Cathy at first resents Heathcliff's presence in her home but soon starts to bond with him. They eventually fall in love but their obsessive relationship is doomed from the outset. Her desire for social recognition leads her to marry Edgar Linton. From childhood to adulthood, Cathy and Heathcliff are inseparable; until she meets Edgar.
- Andrew LincolnAndrew LincolnAndrew Lincoln is an English actor, known for his roles in the TV series This Life, Teachers and Afterlife, and the films Love Actually and Heartbreaker...
as Edgar LintonEdgar LintonEdgar Linton is a character in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. His role in the story is that of Catherine Earnshaw's husband. He resides at Thrushcross Grange and falls prey to Heathcliff's schemes for revenge against his family....
- Edgar is well-educated, smart and wealthy, everything that Heathcliff isn't. The two men eventually come to blows over their love-rival status in a bid to win Cathy's heart.
- Kevin McNallyKevin McNallyKevin McNally is an English actor who has worked in theatre and radio extensively as well as in film and television.-Life and career:...
as Mr. Earnshaw - Kindly father of Catherine and Hindley, Mr Earnshaw brings home the orphan Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights, little realising the full ramifications of his good-hearted actions will plague both the boy and his daughter.
- Burn GormanBurn GormanBurn Hugh Gorman is an American-born English actor and musician. Burn is best known for his roles as Owen Harper in Torchwood and as William Guppy in Bleak House.-Personal life:...
as Hindley EarnshawHindley EarnshawHindley Earnshaw is a fictional character in Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights. The brother of Catherine Earnshaw, father of Hareton Earnshaw, and sworn enemy of Heathcliff, he descends into a life of drunkenness, degradation, and misery after his wife Frances dies in childbirth, enabling...
- Hindley is Catherine's brother and resents Heathcliff from the start, seeing him as a rival for their father's affections. Despite Heathcliff being an outsider, Mr Earnshaw comes to love him more than Hindley and Catherine, which breeds jealousy and vengeance in the young man's heart.
- Sarah LancashireSarah LancashireSarah Lancashire is an English actress, probably best recognised for her role as Raquel Watts in Coronation Street. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1986.-Television:...
as Nelly DeanNelly DeanEllen "Nelly" Dean is a female character in Emily Brontë's novel, Wuthering Heights. She is the main narrator for the story, and gives key eyewitness accounts as to what happens between the characters...
- Partial narrator in Emily Bronte's novel, Nelly (or Ellen) is the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights and is witness to Catherine and Heathcliff's story as it unfolds.
- Rosalind HalsteadRosalind HalsteadRosalind Halstead is a British actress, model and dancer.Halstead trained for five years at the Central School of Ballet, and danced at Sadler's Wells Theatre...
as Isabella LintonIsabella LintonIsabella Linton is a female character in Emily Brontë's only novel Wuthering Heights. She is the sister of Edgar Linton and the wife of Heathcliff.- Story :...
- Isabella is Edgar's naive sister who becomes close friends with Catherine when the latter is injured at Thrushcross Grange and stays with the Lintons. But when Cathy and Edgar marry, Heathcliff seduces Isabella as a way of getting his revenge.
Secondary Characters
- Tom PayneTom Payne (actor)Thomas "Tom" Payne is an English actor. He is best known for playing Brett Aspinall in television drama series Waterloo Road from January 2007 to March 2008....
as Linton Heathcliff - Rebecca NightRebecca NightRebecca Night is a British actress who starred in the title role of the James Hawes's BBC Four adaptation Fanny Hill.-Background:Rebecca Night was born as Rebecca Hardwick in Poole, Dorset...
as Catherine LintonCatherine LintonCatherine Linton is a character in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights... - Sia BerkeleySia BerkeleySia Berkeley is an English actress. She is best known for her television work, perhaps most for playing Scarlett in the television series Skins.-Career:...
as Frances Earnshaw - Andrew Hawley as Hareton EarnshawHareton EarnshawHareton Earnshaw is a character in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. He is the son of Hindley Earnshaw and Hindley's wife Frances. At the end of the novel, he makes plans to wed Catherine Linton, with whom he falls in love.- Story :...
- Des McAleer as Joseph
- Declan Wheeldon as Young Heathcliff
- Alexandra Pearson as Young Cathy
- Shaughan Seymour as Dr Kenneth
- Joseph TaylorJoseph TaylorJoseph Taylor may refer to:* Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. , American astrophysicist* Joseph C. Taylor, American baseball player* Joseph D. Taylor , U.S...
as Young Hindley
Writing
In approaching the novel as a 180-minute adaptation writer Peter Bowker observed: "How do you go about adapting the greatest love story in literature? Well, firstly by acknowledging that it isn't a love story. Or at least, it is many things as well as a love story. It's a story about hate, class, revenge, sibling rivalry, loss, grief, family, violence, land and money..."He noted that the book had previously proved "stubbornly unadaptable", the most successful version being the Hollywood picture starring Laurence Olivier, which succeeded because "with classic Hollywood ruthlessness they filleted out the Cathy/Heathcliff story and ditched the rest of the plot. It's a great film but it does the novel a disservice."
Bowker hoped to "open up some of the other themes, not least the story of how damage is passed down through generations, how revenge poisons the innocent and the guilty, how the destructive nature of hate always threatens to overwhelm the redemptive power of love" but acknowledged that "structurally, the novel is notoriously difficult"
Differences from the Novel
Faced with this "complex and sometimes frustrating structure" Bowker decided to reassemble the plot of the novel in chronological order and read it again. He credits the "exercise in literary vandalism" as "a breakthrough moment in pointing to the book's adaptability". In his version, Bowker "decided to drop [the original narrator] Lockwood altogether and absorb Nelly's [partial narration] into the main drama".
Bowker also shuffled with the original organisation of the flashback episodes, instead beginning his drama "at the moment when Linton is delivered by the dying Edgar to the old Heathcliff at the Heights", rather than through the visitor Lockwood's arrival at the estate. He suggested this reshuffle would increase audience interest; as the story begins "two men hate each other and we don't know why. The Kind Man is giving his ailing nephew to the Monster and we don't know why. Start with a mystery". Bowker also found this introduction gave "the story of the younger generation the room it deserves".
Episodes
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