“Bleak House”, without A Foggy Day in London Town

Adapting Dickens, conveying London’s fog of inequality

A few thoughts occurred during the excellent TV adaptation of Bleak House recently (Ed. This piece was first published at cityofsound.com on 7 January 2006.) Many of have been voiced in Adrian Shaughnessy’s recent piece at Design Observer. As well as general praise for the series, which was hugely popular in the UK, Shaughnessy notes aspects of the production design:

“(T)he art direction brilliantly transforms London into a kind of Victorian-era Blade Runner. … Dazzling camera work makes the series feel at once dynamic and relevant by contemporary production standards, and the editing uses, to surprisingly good effect, the sorts of fashionable slam cuts more commonly found in music videos.” (Shaughnessy, Design Observer)

Personally, I’m not sure the slam cuts – and their aural accompaniment – added that much to the programme; this narrative isn’t particularly about speed, say, as a contemporaneous story of Manchester or Chicago might’ve been. I agree with everything else Shaughnessy says, though, and I also found another aspect of the camerawork interesting.

Bleak House is justifiably recognised for its magisterial beginning, and particularly its famous cloak of fog:

”Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls deified among the tiers of shipping and the waterside…