Nigel Stafford-Clark Movies

A trio of orphans becomes embroiled in a mysterious and long-running lawsuit in this sprawling BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel. A legend in the legal circles of Victorian London, the messy inheritance case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce has been trickling through the courts for years with no end in sight. Nobleman John Jarndyce (Denis Lawson) has seen the case destroy more than one life, so when he becomes guardian to three young people -- beautiful Ada Clare (Carey Mulligan), Ada's cousin Richard Carstone (Patrick Kennedy), and her devoted companion, Esther Summerson (Anna Maxwell Martin) -- he vows to shield them from its pernicious effects by bringing them to the safety of his estate, the eponymous Bleak House. Richard, however, becomes obsessed with the unattainable Jarndyce inheritance, to the detriment of his career and mental health. Esther, meanwhile, remains haunted by her origins; the product of a scandalous pregnancy, she was raised by her aunt and knows nothing about her dead mother's identity. Meanwhile, imperious noblewoman Lady Dedlock (Gillian Anderson) plots to hide the evidence of her own mysterious past -- a quest that leads her to the intrigue surrounding Jarndyce and Jarndyce. She is but one of dozens of characters who find themselves drawn into the lawsuit's web of corruption, blackmail, and murder. Bleak House debuted October 27, 2005, on BBC One. It received its U.S. premiere on January 22, 2006, on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, where the 15 British episodes were combined into six longer blocks. Britain's Royal Television Society named the series Best Drama Serial of 2005. A previous adaptation of Dickens' novel ran on Masterpiece Theatre in 1985. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

The six-part British miniseries The Way We Live Now was adapted from the satirical 1875 novel by Anthony Trollope. The central character was Augustus Melmotte (David Suchet), a mysterious international financier of questionable parentage. Invading the uppermost circles of Victorian society, Melmotte inveigled a considerable number of prominent Londoners in a spectacular get-rich-quick scheme. Among those involved were the Carburys, an aristocratic but cash-poor family anxious to recoup their fortunes by whatever means necessary. Details essential to the plot include the somewhat one-sided romance between Melmotte's rebellious daughter Marie (Shirley Henderson) and caddish Sir Felix Cadbury (Matthew MacFadyen), the exploits of an American adventuress (Miranda Otto) with a predilection for shooting her lovers, and a high-born author of trashy romance novels. Though written in the late 19th century, the story line had a queasily contemporary significance to those burned by such financial peccadillos as the Enron scandal in the early 21st century. Originally telecast by the BBC beginning November 11, 2001, The Way We Live Now was shown in America (as a four-parter) on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre starting April 1, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stephen Griscz, the protagonist of The Wisdom of Crocodiles, is a handsome but enigmatic man of many talents. He is also an incurable womanizer, always searching for the perfect woman. But all his relationships end in tragedy, which arouses the suspicions of police officer Healey. One day, Stephen meets Anne, an engineer who is also a very strong woman and definitely much better than all the others. Anne is intrigued by Stephen's strange airs. But soon it becomes clear that only one of them will survive the relationship. Po Chih Leong, who launched his film career as an editor with the BBC and went on to become a television producer in Hong Kong, made his directorial debut in 1976 and has since directed over a dozen features in English and Chinese before this British production. The Wisdom of Crocodiles was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

A jazz musician who once turned his back on the family business finds that cutting one's ties to the past may not be as simple as walking away in this U.K.crime drama starring David Morrissey and Andy Serkis. Stephen Finne (Morrissey) comes from a long line of career criminals, but despite the fact that violence runs in his blood, all Stephen ever wanted was to open his own jazz club. Years after Stephen thought he had escaped this sordid underworld, he receives news that his father has been murdered. Now, as his sister screams for vengeance and his psychotic brother (Serkis) targets a rival gang boss, Stephen realizes that his fate has been sealed for generations. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An embittered, lonely old widow reluctantly tends her late husband's garden and discovers that more than flowers can bloom there when she encounters her East Indian neighbor, a woman with an ailing husband. This touching drama chronicles their friendship. The story opens as the widow returns from India where she and her recently deceased spouse spent many years working on a tea plantation in Assam. Soon after settling into her British home, she begins planting the garden her husband had always wanted to have in India. As the woman bore no children, there is no one to comfort her until she meets her neighbor and begins their tumultuous friendship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide