The Brontë Collection

Two of the most romantic love stories ever written will sweep you off your feet in these magnificent film adaptations. First, return to Thornfield Hall in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and feel anew the irresistible attraction between the moody Mr. Rochester (Toby Stephens, Die another Day, Cambridge Spies, The Queen’s Sister) and young Jane (Ruth Wilson, Agatha Christie’s Marple). Filmed entirely on location at historic Haddon Hall and throughout Derbyshire. Next, Emily Brontë’s timeless Wuthering Heights takes you to the windswept Yorkshire moors, where two young playmates, Heathcliff (Robert Cavanah, Cracker) and Cathy (Orla Brady, The Rector’s Wife, Proof) become soul-mates, separated by misunderstanding and jealousy. Both as seen on PBS.

Jane Eyre
The classic saga of Jane Eyre is brought vibrantly to life in this lavish, complex and sexual adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's much-loved novel. After a wretched childhood as an orphan, Jane Eyre accepts a governess position at Thornfield Hall. She soon falls in love with the brooding owner, Mr Rochester. Jane gradually wins his heart but they must first overcome the dark secrets of his past before they can find happiness as man and wife.

Wuthering Heights
While most productions of Emily Brontë’s haunting classic tell only half the tale of the doomed love between Cathy and her Heathcliff, this unique version carries you to the grave— and beyond. Orla Brady stars as the spirited Cathy and Robert Cavanah (Cracker) as the tormented Heathcliff, whose profound heartbreak propels him into a ruinous quest for revenge that reaches across generations with disastrous consequences for Catherine, the daughter to whom Cathy died giving birth, and for Heathcliff ’s own son, Linton.

Jane Eyre

Written by Charlotte Bronte
Screenplay by Sandy Welch
Directed by Susanna White
Produced by Diederick Santer
Executive Produced by Rebecca Eaton, Phillippa Giles
Original Music by Robert Lane
Cinematography by Mike Eley
Film Editing by Jason Krasucki
Costume Design by John Bright, Andrea Galer

Wuthering Heights

Written by Emily Bronte
Screenplay by Neil McKay
Directed by David Skynner
Produced by Jo Wright
Original Music by Warren Bennett

Jane Eyre
"Cancel your plans for the next few Sundays - BBC1's Jane Eyre has style, substance, and just the right amount of heaving bodices ... It's all very stylised and gothic ... And it looks fabulous, but substance hasn't been sacrificed for style ... And there are two great performances - from Toby Stephens, as a fiery and brooding Rochester, and from Ruth Wilson, as an awkward, embarrassed but quietly determined Jane Eyre." - Guardian

"...a wonderfully reconceived and re-energised production, beautifully stylised, with a pared-down look and beautifully bleak lighting ... Toby Stephens is the pleasure deferred, a predictable piece of trouser totty cast as Rochester. He glowers and glooms and sulks in an acceptably gothic manner ... Ruth Wilson's Jane is what really lifts this production to being exceptional. She is a servant without being servile or simpering, strong without being wilful; and by doing very, very little, she manages to evoke an awful lot. With a twitch of her Nike swoosh eyebrows, she elicits a slow-burn, knicker-melting erotic energy with Rochester." - Sunday Times

"The BBC's Jane ... is one hot 19th-century governess. She looks like a chick in a Magnum ice-cream advert. She's got flawless skin, tumbling hair, perfectly sculpted eyebrows and a frankly extraordinary upper lip: a fleshy, kissable duckbill, which appears to vibrate lasciviously in moments of high emotion … Toby Stephens's Rochester, meanwhile, ... strikes you as an entity with hot, steaming vents on his lower flanks."  - The Times

"...a stylish production that is all steely grey tones and ominous corridors. Edward Rochester (Toby Stephens) is not so much the Byronic hero as a rich, bored and believably modern young man whose secret is slowly corroding him from the inside ... by the end of episode one, you will be wanting more." - Sunday Times

“Well paced, beautifully designed and astutely scripted...” - Observer

“Forget Darcy - meet the new smoulderer … this is a performance that looks set to confirm Stephens as the new pin-up of period drama.” - Express on Sunday

"The new adaptation … doesn't add new colors to Bronte's romantic novel. Rather, it brings out all the shades and hues of the original portrait, restoring it to its full glory. But wait. The news gets better. The careful restoration applies not only to the characters but also to the breathtaking cinematography. Scene after scene transports viewers across time and space to a place made vivid and real. By doing all this, the robust, two-part, four-hour Masterpiece Theatre program raises the bar for future Jane Eyre productions to a level that will not be easily hurdled.” - Hollywood Reporter

"Jane Eyre hits the full Brontë in every scene … From sweeping shots of the English countryside through all seasons to intimate scenes in the recesses of the manor house, this adaptation of Jane Eyre shows off a richness American TV projects rarely attempt. The appeal stretches beyond style. The lean scripting (even at four hours the program can't cover every one of Brontë's plot details), the expeditious pacing and the interaction among the actors are first-class, if not as brilliant as the more ambitious and magnificent Bleak House from last season” - USA Today

“Ever respectful of its source, the miniseries doesn't add on sexuality so much as it seeks and finds character depth and dimensionality. And it helps that, as Jane and Rochester, Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens are open, soulful actors. More than some of the famous pairings … they keep things down to earth.” - Boston Globe

“For the first time in the filmed telling of this tale, perhaps, we watch a man grow worthy of Jane's affection and devotion … The period Jane spends with the clergyman St John Rivers and his two sisters features some of the most fascinating minutes in the film, because these characters come to life as never before." - Wall Street Journal

"…the casting is close to perfect. Everything else - and there's plenty else to enjoy - is a bonus … Inevitably, this miniseries will be compared to A&E's splendid 1995 Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, and the comparisons are mostly justified … This miniseries retains the conventions of the gothic genre - the spooky castle, the nighttime screams, mysterious midnight stabbings and maulings, the Gypsy fortune-teller, the supernatural carryings-on - but most important, it gives a passionate new take to an archetypal love story. This production of Jane Eyre holds its own against any other." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette