Filmed entirely in Hardy’s Wessex, with Alan Bates as the hero whose past rises to destroy him, this powerful production opens with the wife-sale from which this tragic tale unfolds. Set in the 1840’s the vivid and remarkable story that develops has made this one of Hardy’s most popular novels, and makes this rich drama compulsive viewing. Anna Massey and Anne Stallybrass support Bates admirably and the script is dramatised by Dennis Potter. Carl Davis wrote the music.