memorable tv           

TELEVISION

MUSIC

MORE STUFF

CLARISSA

BBC DVD / Region 4 / Released April 2008

Featuring Sean Bean, Saskia Wickham,

Despite being pretty much unknown these days Smauel Richardson was really the first proper novelist as we know it, shaking things up in the early days of the 18th century with his novel Clarissa - the first Dangerous Liasons / Fatal Attraction style book if you will and with noir period romances all the go in the 1980's and 90's an adaptation was a must. Released this month on DVD is the BBC's masterful 1991 2 part drama with Sean Bean at his best and up and coming Saskia Wickham as the titular Wickham who is the object of his affections.

Bean plays Lovelace, a handsome rake, who is determined to claim the virtue of the beautiful heiress Clarissa - what he hasn't counted on of course is that he might actually fall in love with her.

Unusually for a BBC costume drama Clarissa wasn't shot on film but its actually all the better for it, the dark passageways and candlit boudoirs coming to life under videotaped filming. Other than that Clarissa has all the hallmarks of a BBC classic, sumptuous costumes, top notch production design and quality acting from the likes of Sean Pertwee, Lynsey Baxter, Diana Quick, Hermoine Norris and Cathryn Harrison.

Clarissa might not be one of the beebs better known shows but it is high of quality and any costume drama fan is going to lap it up.

back to dvd reviews | home

RSS FEEDS AND EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to memorable tv for updates,comp news and more or Via Email