One of several British miniseries adaptations of Charles Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend, this four-part version debuted over the BBC in 1998. The production's generous running time (total: six hours), enabled scenarist Sandy Welch to include virtually every important detail in this complex Victorian-era saga of how a mysterious waterfront death inextricably linked the lives of two young women, Lizzie Hexam (Keeley Hawes) and Bella Wilfer (
Anna Friel). The richness of the Dickensian prose was complemented by the visuals, which incorporated everything from documentary-style handheld camerawork to Eisenstein-ish montages, and by the eerily polytonal musical score by
Adrian Johnston. Our Mutual Friend was brought to America courtesy of PBS beginning January 3, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide