Scotland with no Heights

Bad news for our Scottish readers as it seems that STV will not broadcast Wuthering Heights next August Bank Holiday. According to The Herald:

The lavish £3m TV film, adapted by Bafta award-winning screenwriter Peter Bowker and billed as one of the jewels in the ITV autumn season crown, is to be shown in two parts on August 30 and 31 throughout the ITV network – except in Scotland, where it is to be replaced by Sirens, a seven-year-old made-for-TV drama starring Daniela Nardini.
ITV and STV have been in dispute after the UK public service broadcaster accused the Scottish media company of failing to pay a £22m fee for being part of the ITV network. The allegation, disputed by STV, has come as the Scottish broadcaster has opted out of a number of series.
STV has said it has been looking to bring in more home-grown content to its schedule. While that is more cost-efficient, STV says it also caters for Scottish viewers who want more Scottish programmes. (Martin Williams)

Of course, the real reason is not that but:

It is estimated that opting out of Wuthering Heights will save the broadcaster more than £100,000. (...)
One Scottish media expert said: “They claim they are dropping all the dramas to put on Scottish programmes instead, but I think that it is purely economics. It is just about saving the money it costs to show a network drama.
“What STV is trying to do is withhold the money from the network. If it drops the programme it doesn’t have to pay its share of the cost of the production.

This is the Contact webpage of the broadcaster if you want to tell them what you think about it.

EDIT: A possible 'bypass' is suggested by the Evening Express:

Sky subscribers can watch the axed shows by selecting ITV London on channel 993 and Freesat 977. The listings for these channels can now be found daily in the Evening Express.

The rest of the UK not punished for being Scottish is also discussing this upcoming production. The Darlington & Stockton Times, for instance, talks about one of the locations, Stockeld Park:

A COUNTRY estate in North Yorkshire has been transformed into one of the settings for a TV adaptation of one of the world’s best known love stories.
Stockeld Park, a private estate near Harrogate, was taken over by a film crew to film scenes for the latest version of Emily Brönte’s classic, Wuthering Heights, to be shown during August Bank Holiday weekend.
The two-part costume drama stars Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Lancashire and Tom Hardy, with Stockeld Park standing in for Thrushcross Grange, the family home of the novel’s tragic heroine Cathy.
In real life Stockeld Park is home to Peter and Susie Grant and their five children, and has been in Mr Grant’s family for more than 150 years.
To recreate the authentic Victorian look the entire contents of the family drawing room, library and hallway had to be removed and replaced with specifically chosen period pieces, some of which were valuable antiques selected for their historical reference.
The library was transformed into a dining room and a large Victorian dining table was set with antique china ready to film scenes for Cathy’s wedding party.
Even the tarmac driveway received a pea gravel make over for the arrival scene of a horse drawn carriage carrying the newly married Cathy and Edgar.
Mr Grant said: "It was quite incredible to see our drawing room filled with Victorian ladies with bustles and gentlemen in breeches, dancing to the sounds of a harpsichord.
"It’s certainly a far cry from my wife and I and our children playing on the Nintendo Wii."

John Sutherland in The Independent writes about Smoothies and ice maidens in literature:

Ice kills. The icy heroines are, almost without exception, man killers: Venus flytraps. What is the last we see of Cathy in Wuthering Heights ? In a graveyard, alongside the two men she has destroyed.

Xu Xiaomin's article in China Daily makes us think in unexpected plain Jane parallellisms between modern neocapitalist Shanghai and the Brontës times:

Even during my childhood in 1980s, my parents and teachers kept reminding me that studying to improve my mind should always take precedence over efforts to enhance my outward look. Hence, I found my idol in Jane Eyre rather than those teenage heartthrobs from Taiwan or Hong Kong who had a big following among my high school peers.

PlanningResource thinks that the Brontë sisters were born in Bradford (Thornton belongs to Bradford today, but still), students with good qualifications thanks to Jane Eyre in The Telegraph & Argus and The Troy Record, alita.reads has finished and loved Jane Eyre, rose_griffes posts her opinions about Wuthering Heights and Icopyedit posts briefly about The Professor.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, The Professor, Wuthering Heights