Sparkhouse

Infobox British television
show_name = Between The Sheets


format = Drama
starring=Alun Armstrong
Sarah Smart
Joseph McFadden
Richard Armitage
creator = Sally Wainwright
country=UK
num_episodes=6
runtime=180 min
network=BBC
num_seasons=1
first_aired=2002
imdb_id=0324036

Sparkhouse is a BBC drama, originally shown in 2002, delivering a modern take on Wuthering Heights, two young lovers battle against the odds to be together.

ynopsis

Carol Bolton is a feisty, passionate and reckless young woman who life has dealt a raw deal. She lives in poverty-stricken Sparkhouse Farm with a drunken and abusive father, Richard. Carol is determined to protect those closest to her - younger sister Lisa and her soul mate since childhood, Andrew Lawton.

Andrew and Carol's love is not a teenage crush. Their passion is urgent, powerful, enormous, like the landscape they share; the raw energy of the wind, the awesome loneliness of the moors. Yet all of this is in danger of being destroyed when a Pandora's Box of secrets and lies is forced open. Andrew's parents are strongly against the match and ensure that he goes away to college.

After the death of her father and when Andrew marries another woman, Carol seeks solace with her father's farmhand John Standring and works with him to protect her family and the farm.

Cast and Crew comments

Actress Sarah Smart was thrilled to be part of the production: "I was so excited when I was offered the role of Carol; she is so passionate and a great character to play."

The reflections of Wuthering Heights had echoes for Sarah - as did the influence of changed hairstyles: "I played Catherine Linton in a television version of Wuthering Heights. I had to wear a big blonde curly wig that upstaged me a bit! So I knew the story and adored all that angst and romance."

Joseph McFadden reveals about his character Andrew Lawton : "Carol brings excitement into his life. I suppose you could say that she could be seen as a bad influence on him - she doesn't come from the 'right' kind of family. But for him it is the perfect love."

Producer Derek Wax believes the story's themes are perennial: "The battle between passionate love and economic necessity; following your heart, or doing something expedient, or socially desirable. These questions are the same in the 21st century as they were in the 19th."

Cast

*Carol Bolton - Sarah Smart
*Richard Bolton - Alun Armstrong
*Lisa Bolton - Abigail James
*Andrew Lawton - Joseph McFadden
*John Standring - Richard Armitage
*Kate Lawton - Celia Imrie
*Paul Lawton - Nicholas Farrell