I fell for the bleak beauty of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece as a love-lorn teenager, despite being required to read it for the ‘O’ level English Literature syllabus. It has stood up to multiple re-readings as an adult and I still think it the greatest novel I’ve ever read. I’ve followed many radio/tv/cinema adaptations over the years and found most of them wanting. Either they centre on a non-existent ‘ghost’ story element, or they soft-focus the black heart of the novel out of existence.

Two exceptions stand out against the dross: a BBC radio adaptation in the early 1990’s which had it to a tee – proper Yorkshire accents and all, and a modernised TV drama interpretation from about 10 years ago which I can’t find or remember the name of, but included a scene in which a young woman stood on top of a car and smashed the windscreen with a sledgehammer. The writer perfectly captured the frustration and powerlessness which afflicts all of the book’s characters, one way or another.

So I’ve recorded the new ITV drama and hope very much to find my favourite novel finally captured on screen, though in truth I’m not optimistic. I think I’ll just re-read my lovely 1930’s hardback edition sometime this winter.

Postscript: The TV drama was called Sparkhouse.

August 30, 2009