... first contribution to television drama, which is being produced at the Royal. Bristol, on August 19. The play, based on Thomas Hardy's novel, by Ronald Gow, will be produced by Owen Reed, who has already produced it three limes for sound radio. It is ...

... written and produced by John Pett. STV will be showing Westward's Portrait of Hardy on December 23. Directed by John Bartlett. it examines the life of West coun try author Thomas Hardy, and includes the recollections of local people who knewjiim. ...

... Good Hardy dramatisation by Ann Purser The Woodlanders, BBC-1, February 22. THOMAS HARDY'S The Wood-landers is hardly the everyday story of country folk. It's country folk, certainly, but a kind of doom and darkness hovers over all, and even in the l ...

... one tried to do too much by John Lawrence Jude The Obscure, BBC-2, February 6. HARRY GREEN'S adaptation of the novel by Thomas Hardy has begun on a disappointing note. The main reason for the failure of the first episode to make much impact was that it ...

... The performance of her life by Geoffrey Wren THE characters of Thomas Hardy seem rooted inseparably in their native soil of Wessex like great gnarled oaks buffeted by the primeval elements of storm and passion. Julia Jones who wrote Back of Beyond in ...

... be made on location. The films include The Day After The Fair and Northanger Abbey. The Day After The Fair is based on a Thomas Hardy short story called The Western Circuit, which the author turned into a stage play. It will be directed by Anthony Simmons ...

... No holds barred drama package By ANGELA THOMAS THE BBC is aiming for another award winning year with a star studded £40 million package of drama planned for the autumn and winter seasons. Dirk Bogarde, Stewart Granger, Lee Remick, John Hun and Harvey ...

... Patrick Swayze and Lesley Anne Down struggle again with the kind of lines that make Mills and Boons writers look like Thomas Hardy, and to their credit they still manage to make Orry and Madelaine a convincingly passion ate pair of lovers. But I do still ...

... how often have you seen Mastermind and thought How wonderful my every waking hour is dominated by the sexual history of Thomas Hardy as well? The All-New Alexei Sayle Show 2: It would be a shame if he were to go into the mainstream his speciality is ...

... December 31, 9.30pm) was almost as disappointing. The adaptation, by Robert W Lenski, failed to capture the spirit of the Thomas Hardy masterpiece, set in 1842. Indeed, it was an exam ple of how very difficult it is to cram so complex and descriptive a novel ...

... a factor emphasised by the absence of canned laughter. Hardy, in partic ular, made a most convincing poet, while there were a number of nice vignettes from the sup porting cast. Both Dee and Hardy come from the 'alternative' (for which now read 'mainstream') ...