East Lynne

there is a slight inaccuracy in the previous review. In Ellen Wood's original book 'East Lynne', the town is called West Lynne and the Estate nearby where (Archibald) Carlyle and Lady Isabel live is the East Lynne of the title.

Being one of the majority who haven't seen the film, I obviously cannot comment...however, the British Broadcasting Corporation dramatised the book in the early 1980's after British Independent Television had also screened a dramatisation in the mid 1970's. Interestingly, the role of Cornelia Carlyle was played in both versions by the excellent comic actress Annette Crosby - latterly most famous for her role as the long-suffering wife of Victor (I don't believe it !) Meldrew in the sit-com 'One Foot in the Grave'.

The BBC also aired a radio adaptation of East Lynne in the mid 1980's and the work continues to be popular in academic circles as one of the definitive works of Victorian 'sensational' fiction. This is a shame, because it remains a jolly good read and deserving of a wider readership.