The Brontes

paddy what an interesting connection..

I really enjoyed it, the programme brought their story to life. I too couldn't hear the whispered dialogue which was a shame, especially Emily's poetry.
You can see some of their manuscripts in the free exhibition at the British Library. Their writing was so tiny and that was portrayed well as they sat hunched over their writing.

No, it was difficult and I found the Victorian dialogue being interspersed with modern speech rather odd.

Have watched almost an hour of it and given up, cannot understand what they are saying

I think the actresses looked quite similar to the original sisters in fact.
Charlotte did not look much like Emily and Anne - and yes, Anne and Branwell did have red hair.

Oh I did enjoy that ! ( just finished watching it on iPlayer)
What a beautiful and unsentimentalised production.

We enjoyed it. I've always been fascinated by Branwell Bronte for some reason. Such a sad character.

Actually I thought Emily did look like the father and both Anne and Bramwell had red hair, so not too dissimilar!
Still watching it on iPlayer.

Is a lot of it about Branwell staggering in and out of The Black Bull ( and any other pub within reach.)?

I must watch this tonight, as I know Haworth well.Although gilly says there isn't much to recognise.Rev Bronte and family were at Thornton before he got the living at Haworth.

I think they could have found three actresses who actually had a tiny amount of family resemblance to each other!

OK but it seemed to be more about Bramwell than the sisters. I admit I know nothing about them really although years ago I struggled through Villette. I wasn't aware they wrote under other names.

I will definitely give it another try but will watch it on my laptop with headphones because DH didn't like it at all.

Gettingonabit ,he changed the name to make it more upmarket when they moved from Northern Ireland where he was minister of Rathfriland Church ,I learned of this while researching my other halfs family tree,he was their minister and married and christened many in the family

I rather enjoyed it, but agree with those who say it was "Branwell heavy". I suppose there might not have been much substance to it without his melodramatics, though. The sound quality wasn't wonderful and DH had to have the subtitles on. The settings were very good. What short, rather sad lives they led though, escaping only through their writing. I didn't realise that Charlotte was pregnant when she died, some say of complications associated with the pregnancy, others of a pulmonary disease which could have been cured, but she chose instead to hasten her own end by refusing treatment. Strange if true.

I read this thread before watching so was braced for mumbling and music obscuring the dialogue. However, I found that they didn't actually mumble but large sections of dialogue between the sisters was literally whispered for no particular reason. The director must have told them to do it that way. All very atmospheric but ultimately pointless!
Very sad situation for them all. Women were really in a difficult position if unmarried and obviously couldn't rely on family as in the Bronte's case.

We happened to be in Haworth on a filming day. It was interesting but also annoying because most of the main street was roped off and a couple of the staff (not actors) seemed to think they owned the entire area, rudely telling people where they could and couldn't stand then changing their minds and pushing people with barriers rather than just asking them to move.

A local told us to go up Penistone Hill to see the village set. It was amazing. The centre of Haworth built of wood and cladding. They'd build the house, church, part of the graveyard, the school and several other buildings with frontages and scaffolding at the back for cameras etc.

We meant to watch the programme to see if we could tell which bits were the village and which bits were the stage set but forgot lol.

I didn't watch, husband did, must ask him what he thought.
I once had a friend who lived near Haworth, and we went for a walk on Haworth Moor on New Year's Day - it was so bleak!

I wondered about the fact that Branwell thumbed a lift - I have googled to see when this became accepted and thought maybe this was an anachronism. Can't find any info on it.

They all succumbed to TB didn't they? Perhaps a legacy from that dreadful school they were sent to.

I loved it but agree about the sound, mumbled and music too loud. Thank goodness for subtitles. I thought it gave a good portrayal of how hard life was in those days, especially for women. Also how useless Branwell was. I knew quite a bit but learned a lot about their relationships with each other and how they got their work published.

There were one or two modern phrases which jarred a bit and in the scene where father said how proud he was they were at the tea table with mismatched china. Trendy now but they would have had a complete tea set in a clergyman's home; mismatched would have been for paupers in those days. Very good costumes though.

gettingonabit yes, the dialogue was disappointing - far too many modern turns of phrase which sat awkwardly in a period drama.

And far too much time spent on Branwell; they could have had snippets of their books being read by each sister as they wrote them.

All in all not the best thing on tv over Christmas for my liking.

I was quite impressed with it and thought it was an improvement on those depictions of the Bronte sisters as genteel and speaking with a plum in their mouths. It is extraordinary to think how young they died: roughly 29, 30 and 39. The Radio Times said that the average life expectancy in Haworth at the time was 19. Let us never grumble again about the NHS and about vaccination programmes! - sewers also played their part I guess.

I don't really know why I stuck with it,but I did,no not very good,was looking forward to it ,but was disappointed.

I enjoyed it and have to admit that I knew very little about the background of the sisters prior to the programme. I have already searched for more information on them and I am planning to visit their home. I have to agree about the sound. I have no hearing problems but I struggled to pick up some sections of the dialogue. Maybe sub titles are the way forward. Hope BBC reads our comments!