Sandy Welch Movies
Jim O'Hanlon directs this adaptation of Jane Austen's literary classic chronicling the travails and travails and triumphs of the would-be matchmaker Emma Woodhouse (Romola Garai). Emma's deadly combination of pure intentions and naivety create no small amount of trouble to her friend Harriet, who rejects an appropriate marriage proposal at the behest of Emma, who insists she will be paired with Mr. Elton, a handsome gentleman much higher on the social scale. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Romola Garai, Jonny Lee Miller, (more)
Screen newcomer Ruth Wilson assumes the role of Charlotte Brontë's eponymous heroine in director Susanna White and screenwriter Sandy Welch's adaptation of the classic 1847 novel. Jane Eyre is a plain but spirited woman who leaves behind the cruel confines of a charity home to work as a governess for the enigmatic Edward Rochester (Toby Stephens). The master of Thornfield Hall, Rochester hires Jane to watch over the young Adele. As a series of increasingly strange occurrences begin to unfold in Thornfield Hall's North Tower, the young governess attempts to maintain her virtue while entering into a soulful relationship with her unrepentantly lecherous employer. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ruth Wilson, Toby Stephens, (more)
A privileged middle-class girl raised in rural southern England gets a rude awakening to the world when a family move forces her to contend with the unseemly inhabitants of a northern mill town in director Brian Percival's adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's timeless love story. Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe) is the daughter of a middle-class parson and a girl accustomed to decidedly refined company. When her family is uprooted and forced to move to the northern mill town of Milton, the prim and proper country girl is notably contemptuous of her new working class neighbors - and especially of charismatic mill owner John Thornton (Richard Armitage. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
One of several British miniseries adaptations of Charles Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend, this four-part version debuted over the BBC in 1998. The production's generous running time (total: six hours), enabled scenarist Sandy Welch to include virtually every important detail in this complex Victorian-era saga of how a mysterious waterfront death inextricably linked the lives of two young women, Lizzie Hexam (Keeley Hawes) and Bella Wilfer (Anna Friel). The richness of the Dickensian prose was complemented by the visuals, which incorporated everything from documentary-style handheld camerawork to Eisenstein-ish montages, and by the eerily polytonal musical score by Adrian Johnston. Our Mutual Friend was brought to America courtesy of PBS beginning January 3, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul McGann, Keeley Hawes, (more)
The first feature film from the Nickelodeon cable channel, Harriet the Spy is an updated version of Louise Fitzhugh's best-selling 1964 children's novel. Sixth grade outcast Harriet (Michelle Trachtenberg) is an only child who has mostly been raised by her nanny, Golly (Rosie O'Donnell), rather than her materialistic parents. Harriet wants to be a writer when she grows up, and only Golly encourages her creative pursuits. Meanwhile, Harriet dons a yellow raincoat and a belt full of gadgets to spy on everyone around her, including her eccentric neighbor with a lot of cats and the other kids at school. Carefully taking notes in her private notebook, Harriet makes clever and cruel observations about her subjects, including her best friends, would-be scientist Janie (Vanessa Lee Chester) and overburdened Sport (Gregory Smith). Harriet's world begins to change when Golly leaves, signaling that it is time for her to grow up. Then a snobby girl a school, Marion, gets her hands on Harriet's special notebook and makes its contents known to the whole school. Soon everyone is against Harriet, and she must concoct a plan to get even. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michelle Trachtenberg, Rosie O'Donnell, (more)
- 1995
Not to be confused with the British sitcom of the same name, the dramatic BBC1 miniseries Tears Before Bedtime focused on three married couples, each with the standard skeletons in the closet and special set of neuroses. The lives of the six protagonists were thrown into a tizzy when they decided to hire three nannies to look after their children. Debuting January 8, 1995 in Britain, the four 50-minute episodes of Tears Before Bedtime were later aired in the U.S. in 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1994
Based on author Ruth Rendell's novel of the same name, A Dark Adapted Eye follows the jealous and arguably insane path of the domineering Vera Hillyard (Celia Imrie), whose obsessive need to control her sons (the older is prone to demonstrating decidedly aggressive behavior, the younger may or may not be legitimate) and daughter plays a prominent role in her own undoing. Meanwhile, her manipulative sister, Eden (Sophie Ward), ultimately provokes Vera into what the community believes to be the deliberate murder of a child. Directed by Tim Fywell, the film also features Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Durr, Guy Witcher, and Robin Ellis. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Helena Bonham Carter, Celia Imrie, (more)
- 1991
The BBC1 miniseries Fatal Inversion was based on a novel by Ruth Rendell, writing under her familiar nom de plume of Barbara Vine. Upon moving back to his ancestral home in the country, Adam Verne-Smith (Douglas Hodge) was forced to come face to face with his past when the bodies of a woman and her child are found nearby. Twelve years earlier, five young college students were involved, innocently or otherwise, in the murders, and two of those students were Adam and his best friend, Rufus Fletcher (Jeremy Northam). Viewers were kept in suspense as to the outcome of the story until the very last minutes of the series' final hour-long episode. Fatal Inversion originally aired in three parts in 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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