It was directed by Anthony Page from a screenplay by Andrew Davies, and starred Juliet Aubrey, Rufus Sewell, Douglas Hodge and Patrick Malahide.

Meanwhile, Dr Lydgate gets married and goes ahead with his ambitious plans for a hospital, but finds himself in difficulty both financially and with local political pressures.

In a 28 March 1994 review for The New York Times, Elizabeth Kolbert said the mini-series was a hit in Britain as it "mesmerized millions of viewers here, setting off a mini-craze for Victorian fiction.

Authors and columnists argued in the London papers over whether Dorothea would, in fact, live happily ever after, whether Casaubon, if left alone, would have finished his great work and finally whether Will Ladislaw entered his marriage bed a virgin.

"[1] In an 11 April 1994 review in Time magazine, John Elson stated that the series "was a recent critical and popular success in Britain, leading to lectures and even debates on the novel.