Robert Goldberg reviews recent TV productions of Thomas Hardy's "The Return of the Native" and Emily Bronte's novel "Wuthering Heights."

Picture this: British actors in a lavish adaptation of a 19th-century novel. Sumptuous period costumes. Country estates.Horse-drawn carriages. Intelligent dialogue. Talented actors. PBS, of course.

Guess again. In a very odd state of affairs, Masterpiece Theater comes to commercial television this week: Back-to-back Thomas Hardy and Emily Bronte on network TV, and cable too -- with ads in between and everything, and not an AlistairCooke in sight. It's astounding. Just a couple of weeks ago, it seemed as if everyone was showing sleazy Roseanne biopics. Now the networks are doing literary dramas with strong scripts, solid production values and fine actors. Culture seems to be the flavor of the week, the trend of the month. Perhaps they'll start handing out the collected Cliffs Notes to incoming network executives. Producers will be torn: Joey Buttafuoco . . . or Raskolnikov? Tonya Harding . . . or Emma Bovary? Is all this a good thing?

Absolutely. I'm guessing you didn't even need a columnist to tell you that. If you caught the first half of the great-books doubleheader last night on CBS, Thomas Hardy's "The Return of the Native," then you were treated to a richly drawn tale of a mysterious beauty who longs to escape the confines of her village in the English countryside. Eustacia Vye (Catherine Zeta Jones) manages to bewitch almost every male in sight, but winds up tangled in her own web of romance and deception.

"Deliver my heart from this fearful lonely place," Eustacia sighs. "Life is so drab on this awful heath. A man of roguish reputation is like a fresh breeze." As Eustacia, Ms. Jones is a temptress with the smooth cheek and arched eyebrow of seduction. Joining her on the misty heaths of Exmoor are the venerable Joan Plowright and talented recent Old Vic imports Ray Stevenson and Clive Owen. All in all, a polished and compelling effort.

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But while "Heights" and "Native" both have their flaws -- a little too much overwrought passion, for example -- they deliver what they set out to deliver: lavish period drama, solidly turned. And while they may not be as strong as the very best of Masterpiece Theater, they can certainly hold their own with some of its recent offerings, such as "Middlemarch."

Ironically, both of these fundamentally tragic tales end on a upbeat note, with glimmers of hope for subsidiary characters, the next generation. It's a little bit of a cheat, but the truth is, everybody likes a happy ending.

The happiest ending, of course, would be if network television finally decided that culture was commercially viable. That's the message from "Return of the Native" and "Wuthering Heights"; classic fiction or TV drama, a good story is a good story.

THE festive season has taken on a whole new meaning for heart- throb Clive Owen.

The actor didn't used to really bother with the celebrations. But then his daughter Hannah arrived.

Coventry-born Clive is a changed man since he married Sarah Jane Fenton and they had Hannah, now two years old. Heused to be reluctant to talk about anything - but mention his family now and his eyes light up.

Clive, aged 33, says: "I used to be cynical about Christmas but now it's a different story. It's much more important than it used to be, and my daughter is the reason for that.

"She's at a great age to enjoy all the festivities. Last year was good but she was more interested in the wrapping paper than the presents. Now she's more in tune with what's going on.

"She's crazy about the Wombles, so this year Great Uncle Bulgaria winged his way into her stocking.

"I love being a father, Hannah is fantastic. I was there all the way through her birth - all 24 hours of it, getting very hands on and messy.

"I'm less self-centred now. Having Hannah has changed my life - nothing can match it."

Clive is spending the holiday partly with his mother and step- father in Coventry and partly with his wife's parents. His romantic meeting with Sarah Jane came when she played Juliet to his Romeo.

Clive shot to fame in the TV series Chancer, but took time out when Hannah arrived. Now he's back in the BBC1 drama The Echo, screened on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It's a dark tale from Minette Walters in which Clive plays journalist Mike Deacon. He is sent to investigate why the body of a tramp was found in the garage of Joely Richardson's exclusive Docklands flat, and discovers there's a lot more to the story than meets the eye.

Clive says: "He gets involved with lots of murky dark secrets. I'd seen Minette Walters' The Sculptress and really liked that.

"I like the fact that The Echo is a dark, alternative Christmas story - Mike Deacon ends up collecting a weird group of misfits who spend Christmas with him. It's not a classic whodunnit.

"A lot of TV dramas can be very predictable. You read 10 pages and know what's going to happen. I have a gut instinct about parts, though I've turned down roles which people tell me will be great."

Clive tried to battle against his sex symbol tag by taking on challenging parts, one of which was in the independent British film Bent with Sir Ian McKellen. It was a harrowing story of homosexual love in a Nazi concentration camp.

He is to be seen next in the two-part BBC1 drama The Cyclist as a lawyer who accidently kills a cyclist in a road rage incident and runs away.

But Clive is not about to run away to Hollywood, despite starring in the film Rich Man's Wife opposite Halle Berry.

"It went straight into the US Top Ten when it was released - then it went straight out again! I got the whole star treatment bit while I was making it and I played it for all it was worth.

"But I'm not prepared to go to LA when the quality of work I get here is just so much better."

Copyright Mirror Regional Newspapers Dec 27, 1998

Intent on conveying powerful messages, movies often will contain shocking scenes to evoke strong emotional reactions from the audience. Martin Sherman's "Bent" could not have been any more explicit in displaying horrifying, and not necessarily violent, visuals that make one want to curl up in a fetal position on your seat by the end.

Reconstructed for the screen, "Bent" is based on the controversial 1979 British stage play that hit Broadway and starred Richard Gere. Unlike some stage-adapted films, "Bent" seems to have a made a smooth transition from a play to a movie. "Bent," the movie, is unique in its own right with a post-modern, highly stylized quality that can only be achieved on screen.

The moving story of the relationship between two homosexuals and how they mentally cope with the brutality forced upon them as prisoners during the Holocaust begins with a sentimental yet melancholy solo from none other than Mick Jagger. Singing at a gay meat-market cabaret, one can feel the urgency and foreshadowing of turbulence to come.

We are introduced to Max (Clive Owen), and his lover, Rudy (Brian Webber), who are aware of their status of inferiority as homosexuals according to the rising Nazi party. Max's uncle (Ian McKellen, who created the role of Max) can only help his nephew but not Rudy as well in escaping the impending danger in Berlin. Max and Rudy stick together, and inevitably are shipped off to a concentration camp in Dachau where their excruciating, torturing experience evolves.

"Bent" insightfully combines issues of bigotry with that of differing attitudes of moral strength. Max, who, being Jewish, wears a yellow star. He is at first in denial of what is occurring, as he repeats over and over again on the train to Dachau, "This isn't happening, this isn't happening ..." Luckily, he meets Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), who helps him direct his feelings: Care for no one, and you will survive.

Once in the concentration camp, Max manages to get the a "good" job after bribing the Gestapo guards: the task of transferring heavy stones from one side of the room to another, and then back again - all day long. But Max needs company, and continues to bribe for Horst's sake, so they can work side by side.

Together they resist the temptation to go insane from this mechanistic, pointless task, and soon develop an intense, loving relationship.

A powerfully eroticized moment occurs during a brief three-minute rest period, where they must stand side by side yet not look at each other.

An engagement in verbalization leading to orgasm, without any physical contact, shows how strong their love is for each other, despite the horrible conditions surrounding them.

This episode raises the paradoxical issue of that numb, emotional stoicism that Horst once championed versus this new, deeply affectionate relationship that evolves between them. Max battles with this problem and soon learns to define himself as a person on the inside as well as on the outside.

The highly formalized cinematography by George Arvanitis and outstanding direction by Sean Matthias adds to this film's superior quality. "Bent" is an emotionally difficult visual spectacle due to certain traumatic scenes where every second that passes is more painful than the previous one.

But as the saying goes: No pain, no gain. Maybe, except it is debatable whether an overall appreciation for this film is not overshadowed its brief yet exceedingly powerful moments, which left me in a traumatized state of being even hours after the conclusion of the movie.

Nevertheless, the coexistence of visual complexity and significant underlying and multi-faceted messages of "Bent" offer lasting images audiences will certainly never forget.

CLIVE OWEN is Sharman, a streetwise private investigator whose love life is almost as perilous as his profession. With a failed marriage behind him, a promising police career cut short by a drink and drugs problem and his investigations business teetering on the brink of collapse, Sharman is someone going nowhere fast.

But despite all his drawbacks, there never seems to be a shortage of women ready to take their chances with him.

For his part, however, there is only one constant "woman" in his life - his much-loved young daughter Judith.

Based on the best-selling novels by former T Rex and The Who roadie Mark Timlin, Sharman the series begins a week after its pilot, The Turnaround, in the same time-slot.

Owen describes Sharman as an extremely exciting project.

"It's something I've been close to from the beginning, as the rights to the book were bought with me in mind for the role," he says.

"The last time I did a TV series was Chancer and I was determined not to do another series until I found something I was really happy with. The character of Nick Sharman sits very comfortably with me. He's a character I could live with for quite a while."

Timlin is equally happy with their "partnership".

"When I knew Clive Owen was interested in playing Sharman I went to see him in the theatre and I immediately thought he was right for the role," says Timlin.

"Now when I'm writing I see Clive as Sharman."

Producer Bill Shapter sees Sharman as a descendant of the classic private-eye fantasy - fictional and entertaining.

"We tried to give Sharman a sense of place, a smell of the streets by cramming in lots of South London locations. Whatever qualities Nick Sharman does or doesn't have, he's certainly got luck- the kind you need in a tight corner." *

All the above thanks to Erica

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