Bleak House

This time I’d like to mention Bleak House, based on a Charles Dickens novel. Very nice series. Personally, I love historic series as much as cop series – some of them anyway. For those of you not familiar with the series, Gillian Anderson from the X files stars as Lady Dedlock. There are other famous (and excellent) actors, too, mainly British ones.

This is a sad story about three orphans with a mysterious past, a court case that has been dragging on for generations and unrequited love, to name a few ingredients. It might sound like an ordinary soap, and in a way, that might be what Dickens intended, but I think it’s much better done.

There’s a lot of misery and injustice, but I suppose that’s how Dickens’ time was. Another thing which might surprise modern viewers is the excessive affection between many of the girls in the series. Perhaps people were more demonstrative back then or Dickens simply didn’t know much about young women.

Another thing that might not always come across for modern viewers is the way Dickens humourously named some of the characters. Dedlock – deadlock, Flite – flight (for a woman who keeps a great number of birds). Nemo – an alias for a man with a secret past. The list goes on. Some names might simply have been chosen to sound absurd, others have a meaning behind them.

In any case, if you like historic series, you can’t miss this one. Of course, if you love the classics, even more reason to see Bleak House. Go on, you know you want to.