::Radio Times::
In 1973, this mini series was featured in the British programming magazine "Radio Times". I acquired a back issue, and am setting down the pertinent contents here.
JANE EYRE
Michael Jayston as Rochester and Sorcha Cusack as Jane
A new dramatisation of Charlotte Bronte's most famous novel. Set in the mid-19th century England, the moving story of an unwanted orphan girl; of her spirited fight against adversity and her search for love and happiness in a harsh class-ridden society.
Sorcha Cusack, who plays Jane, by Bronte Cottages, Cowan Bridge, once a school attended by four of the Bronte sisters. "Though the cottages haven't been a school for a long time, I was very surprised they were so pleasant and cheerful looking. Jane is externally submissive, saying "Yes sir, no Sir" but mentally she never relinquishes her ideas. She plays her role, but she makes sure that Rochester knows her mind."
Michael Jayston, who plays Rochester, in front of Norton Conyers, near Ripon; it may have been the model of Thornfield Hall. "I'd love to live in a place like this. It's much easier to imagine a fire burning in Renishaw, which we actually used for the filming. There there would be no escape; here you could jump out of even the top windows. Rochester is all women's ideal of a man; arrogant yet strangely vulnerable."
The featured article inside- sadly not an interview with the actors or scriptwriters or props manager or anyone connected with the series (I would have settled for anything!) but an interview with two Yorkshire writers about why the novel Jane Eyre is such an enduring classic. Click HERE to read the article.
This tidbit about an older version of 'Jane Eyre' was perhaps included in this issue for amusement:
RADIO TIMES 50TH ANNIVERSARY FLASHBACK
Jane Eyre was first televised on 8 March 1937 with Curigwen Lewis as Jane
3.35 Theatre Parade
Extracts from Athole Stewart's production of 'Jane Eyre'
In 'News for Televiewers' by 'The Scanner' Radio Times said:
"To my mind, the most interesting member of the cast will be F. Marriott Watson Esq. who is to play a woman's role, that of Grace Poole, Mr. Rochester's housekeeper. If Jane Eyre were turned into a pantomime, this would naturally be the Dame's part."
-A fortnight later, Radio Times apologised; "My excitement was entirely misplaced. F. Marriot Watson is Florence Marriott Watson- the wife of F. Marriott Watson."
- For articles actually about this series from American newspapers
From The Washington Post and The New York Times
- Retrospective interview with Sorcha and Michael (and some other Janes)
Vanished Into Thin Eyre
Lecturas 25 June 1976
Article in English and the original Spanish
Images
Women's Realm, October 1973 "Man of History" short quote:
When we met, Michael had just fnished playing, by way of a change, one of the most famous fictional characters in English literature, Mr. Rochester, in the BBC's new serialization of Jane Eyre. "It was marvellous stuff to do, a part you can really get your teeth into. I played it once before at drama school, though obviously I was much too young. It was when the film version, with Orson Welles as Rochester, came out, and I thought he was dreadful! He looked magnificent, but I don't think American actors can cope with period dialogue."
full article here
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[SCANS FROM THE FIRST BOOK]
Bronteana found the cover to the left- an English as a second language book made in the early eighties for sale on Ebay. It has a simplified text of Jane Eyre with just 1500 words and a very familiar face on the cover. The cover to the right is another discovery and is an English as a second language book as well- "Longman's Simplified English". It does not have any pictures though.
What is it Pilot? Timmy has fallen down the well?
No idea what is the content exactly of this, but it is for sale on an Indonesian website: Gramedia
click on the picture for a larger image
Benham silks commemorates Famous Authors with a picture from our favourite Janian adaptation as well as a Charlotte Bronte/Jane Eyre stamp. This was issued in 1980, and the still from the series is not made of paper- it is a textured silky thing stuck on the envelope, and an information card is inside. I probably described that horribly wrong, but I am unfamiliar with these Benham Silks collectibles. Biedroneczka first alerted me to this item for sale on ebay, and it may show up there again.
The Brontë Parsonage Museum has the following press cuttings about this series in their archives. This may or may not be a comprehensive account of all the press this series received. If anyone has a copy or original of these articles, please let me know! Email me at thisbeciel@yahoo dot com. Thanks!
Radio Times 22-8 Sept 1973
Radio Times 8 Nov 1973 (letter from Mrs. Veronica White)
Sheffield Star 16 Apr 1973 (account of filming in Chatsworth)
Reviews
[Southend] Evening Echo 4 Oct 1973
Bournemouth Evening Echo 22 Sept 1973
Daily Telegraph 24 Sept 1973 and 28 Sept 1973
Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph 27 Sept 1973
[Ipswich] Evening Star 28 Sept 1973
Derbyshire Times 28 Sept 1973
The Times 28 Sept 1973 and 29 Sept 1973 (identical)
Colchester Evening Gazette 1 Oct 1973
Shields Gazette 3 Oct 1973
Lancashire Evening Post 4 Oct 1973 and 16 Nov 1973
Banstead Herald 4 Oct 1973
Croydon Advertiser 5 Oct 1973 (musical introduction is Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for strings)
Bernard Davies Broadcast 12 Oct 1973
Sunday Times 21 Oct 1973 (picture only)
Patricia Smith Southern Evening Echo 26 Oct 1973
Peter Fiddick Guardian 29 Oct 1973
Justice of the Peace 3 Nov 1973
Source: Nudd, Donna Marie, 'Bibliography of Film, Television and Stage Adaptations of Jane Eyre'
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