Good, If a Little Worthy

I agree, it was very good in my opinion, and yes, beautifully acted.

I felt that the only moment in which the production seemed "in awe of the literary giants" was actually right at the very, very end, after captions tell us of their fates, and then we see the three women standing proud and strong overlooking the moors.

I found that last scene incredibly powerful, moving and yes, awe-filled, even though it was only a few seconds of three actresses standing still on a ledge.

But it was a fitting way to say that, yes, these women became literary giants. Yet for the rest of the production we aren't given that sense yet, fittingly. We see Emily, for one, in fact being a very down to earth woman, getting her hands stuck into the family meal making, doing other household chores, nursing her brother (shown in gory detail).

We even see Charlotte greeted with smirking disbelief by her publisher, to which she has to get tough and ask why exactly he finds it impossible to believe she is the magnificent Currer Bell -- because of her accent? Her gender? Or her munchkin height? She was portrayed as feeling belittled at first. I relate to that quite strongly.

None were portrayed as anything but women wondering how they might ever make a success of their writings, until the end of the production, which was a very moving moment because that sense of awesomeness had been delayed.

Just some thoughts of mine, as I was so moved by that final shot.

I thought it one of the best things the BBC has done this year. Sally Wainwright can have my dollar admission every time she asks.

I wouldn't take just anyone's opinion on how well she has caught the 19c Yorkshire zeitgeist. After Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax, there can be little doubt to her qualifications as Yorkshire's finest screenwriter and director. There's little anyone can do but defer to her expertise. I can't wait to see what she does next.

All five central performances were outstanding and the script focussed narrowly on the key issues that drove these women to write, leaving it entirely to the Bronté reader to connect their problems to the appearance of the same issues in their works. One line from Jane Eyre and the tale that inspired Wuthering Heights is all we get.

And the reason the gender politics play a role is not that they are being overlaid by modern eyes but that these authors, even if they didn't give birth to gender politics, were certainly their fictional midwives. That's what caused the fuss when the books appeared. Not the wild-eyed heroes but women taking control of their lives and making their own decisions.