Adam Bede

Synopsis

The honest, upright and faithful Adam Bede is a humble carpenter who falls in love with the beautiful but shallow Hetty Sorrel.

Hetty spurns Adam in favour of a wealthy marriage to a nobleman, Lord Arthur. Though deeply hurt, Adam never relinquishes his love and tries to win Hetty back in his own single-minded, diligent fashion. Balancing the romantic drama is the calm, good-hearted presence of Adam’s childhood sweetheart, Dinah Morris who waits patiently for Adam’s love to return.

In this fine BBC drama, adapted from George Eliot’s classic novel, the evocations of a bygone rural life are charged with passions of seduction and betrayal, as Adam discovers moral growth and redemption.

Reviews

After all the cold scraps of recycled repeats and old movies, ‘Adam Bede’ (BBC1) itself adapted by Maggie Wadey and directed by Giles Foster was one of the few new works of the New Year and it was as good as any adaptation of the classics the BBC has done for a very long time.

The Mail On Sunday, John Wells

Giles Foster gave us a fine adaptation of ‘Adam Bede’. The hayfields and horses glistened in careful composition like a Stubbs landscape in this first version of George Eliot’s tragedy… Maggie Wadey’s intelligent adaptation boldly took it’s time evoking the pace of rural eighteenth century life while skimping on the novel’s moral waffle. Rex Maidment’s camera probed the well cast faces of the actors for the story’s emotional resonances. Iain Glen’s forceful Adam had a genuine virile decency.

Independent On Sunday, John Lair

Credits

Iain Glen

Adam Bede

Patsy Kensit

Hetty Sorrel

Susannah Harker

Dinah Morris

James Wilby

Arthur Donnithorne

Julia McKenzie

Mrs. Poyser

Robert Stephens

Reverend Irwine

Jean Marsh

Lisbeth Bede

Freddie Jones

Old Squire

Michael Percival

Court Official

Edward Jewesbury

Judge

Brian Osborne

Jury Spokesman

Paul Brooke

Martin Poyser

Tacita Haffenden

Totty Poyser

Chase Marks

Tommy Poyser

William Holmes

Marty Poyser

Alan Cox

Seth Bede

Michael Robbins

Thias Bede

Jonathan Coy

Pym

Johnnie Van Derrick

Alick

Jennie Heslewood

Landlady

Bill Moody

Landlord

Patsy Byrne

Sarah Stone

James Greene

Prosecution Council

George Innes

John Olding

John Burgess

Sheriff

Director

Giles Foster

Writers (original novel)

George Eliot

Writers (screenplay)

Maggie Wadey

Producer

Peter Goodchild

Cinematographer

Rex Maidment