The Read

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Arts and culture
Documentary

Summary

Performances of extracts from literary classics

Wuthering Heights

Summary

Bradford born actor Vinette Robinson performs as the narrator for one of Bronte's most loved novels - Wuthering Heights. Seen through the eyes of housekeeper Nelly Dean, the story takes shape around the intense and destructive love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors

Review

Stephen Kelly

BBC Four’s classy The Read series (a sort of Bedtime Stories for adults) continues with actor Vinette Robinson’s dramatic reading of Emily Brontë’s timeless classic. Sitting at a kitchen table, hands cradled around a cup of tea, Robinson channels narrator Nelly Dean, the nosey housekeeper whose story of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw is one of literature’s great romances.

The effect is intimate, like a friend who has popped around to share the wildest gossip you’ve ever heard. Ditto her ability to switch masterfully from narration to gut-wrenching dialogue. Literature has rarely felt so alive.