Epic BBC adaptation of the Dickens classic, with a script by acclaimed writer Andrew Davies and performances from Gillian Anderson, Denis Lawson, Charles Dance and Anna Maxwell Martin, amongst many others. High and low life in Victorian London is explored to the full when young Richard Carstone (Patrick Kennedy) and his cousin Ada (Carey Mulligan) are caught up in the interminable legal case of Jarndyce vs Jarndyce. Drawn into a world where the icy and composed Lady Dedlock (Anderson) hides a dark secret, and where their lives will be affected by the attentions of their friend Esther (Martin), their guardian Mr John Jarndyce (Lawson), and the predatory attentions of various unscrupulous lawyers, boarding house owners, and debt collectors, the two young cousins will each meet with very different ends as the case approaches its long-delayed conclusion.