BBC 1 - 7th  September, 2008

Griff Rhys Jones presents a programme following the life of Thomas Hardy with dramatised scenes.

From his modest rural roots in Dorset, Thomas Hardy became one of the most celebrated writers in the world. This film reveals how Hardy drew on his own emotionally charged personal life to create some of the most memorable characters and stories in English literature. 

Thomas Hardy’s story is of a quiet, unassuming man, who became a professional writer only in his 30’s, however he gave us some of the most powerful, unsettling, passionate and, in their day, controversial works in the English language.

Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, Mayor of Casterbridge these are some of the novels that made Hardy, by the time he was 50, into one of the great voices of the Modern age.

The clever, observant boy absorbed the world he was born into and developed a real fascination for the countryside.

Certainly the most profound influence on young Hardy was his mother, Jemima. She was a voracious reader and she instilled in Thomas a love of books and reading from an early age.

Much of his work stemmed from childhood and his family who were so utterly rooted  in Dorset.

Hardy’s novels are rich visual dramas, centred round brilliantly orchestrated scenes that he executed in a modern and cinematic style.  It’s no surprise that so many have been adapted into films and television dramas.

What’s remarkable about his story is that he’s one of very few writers who’s not only a great novelist he’s also a great poet.