Produced by: John Dryden for BBC Radio Collection

ISBN: 0563557206

First Broadcast: November 29, 1998 (BBC Radio 4)

Recorded at: Chiddingstone Castle, Kent

Dramatised by: John Dryden

Directed by: John Dryden

Music: Sacha Puttnam, Nick Russell Pavier

Running Time: approx 5 hours

Cast:

Michael Kitchen ... John Jarndyce

Claire Price ... Esther Summerson

Honeysuckle Weeks ... Ada Clare

Robert Portal ... Richard Carstone

Michael Fenton Stevens ... Harold Skimpole

John Shrapnel ... Kenge

Rob Jarvis ... Guppy

Danny Worters ... Jo

Brendan O'Hea ... Woodcourt

Ellie Haddington ... Miss Barbary/Hortense

Daisy Beaumont ... Lady Deadlock

Anton Lesser ... Tulkinghorn

Berwick Kaler ... Inspector Bucket/Sir Leicester Dedlock

Michael Atwell ... Krook

Jean Marsh ... Miss Flite

Greg Hicks ... Snagsby

Jonathon Oliver ... Vholes

Eamon Boland ... George

Roger Frost ... Smallweed

with Charlie Hayes, Tamara King, Suzanne Rainforth,

Dell Synott, Hugh Terry.

The Dramatisation:

(From the BBC Radio Collection notes.)

In this full-cast dramatisation of Dickens' masterpiece, we have attempted to capture the essence of Dickens' intention and have gone right back to the original notes he used to write the novel. We have had to cut out many of the characters which appear in the novel to allow other characters to be developed fully and this has necessitated some restructuring of the plot and writing of additional bridging scenes. For this is not a reproduction so much as an interpretation of Bleak House.

As in the novel, our drama shifts between two perspectives - Esther's first person experience and interpretation of events and a darker, fly-on-the-wall observer, the roving microphone, which probes beneath the public faces of many of the characters. It is this constant shifting from the involved observer to the cold, dispassionate one which drives the story forward.

From its commission to the final studio mix, this dramatisation has been almost a year in the making. We recorded most of the drama at Chiddingstone Castle in Kent and have used a documentary production style throughout with microphones following the action like cameras, and have recorded entirely outside the artificial environment of a studio where radio drama is traditionally made. Though this is a more complex and expensive approach - especially for period drama, where any overhead planes, lawn mowers or passing cars create a real problem - the benefits can be heard in the subtle performances and in the sense of the place.

For this drama exists in a real place, a world much like our own.