Dissecting the Miniseries

Edge of Darkness (317 minutes, 6 parts) Directed by Martin Campbell Written by Troy Kennedy-Martin 1985, UK, BBC2 The way in which Edge of Darkness reaches its final moments of grandiloquence feels like tonal prolapse; as if, in giving birth to a Cold War-sized tale of nuclear espionage and corruption, a once firm-bellied thriller with …

Pride and Prejudice (300 minutes, 6 parts) Directed by Simon Langton Written by Andrew Davies 1995, UK, BBC  For someone unfamiliar with Jane Austen, it may be impossible to imagine a better advertisement for her best-known work than this 1995 BBC adaptation of that 1813 novel. In the world of literary adaptations, Pride and Prejudice …