Daily Star is a bit mixed up about the dates but reports that Red Nose Day 2026--Friday, March 20th--will see a spoof version of Wuthering Heights 2026.
Comic Relief bosses have made a spoof of Hollywood film Wuthering Heights which will air on Friday night (March 19) [sic] as part of the charity fundraiser
A spoof version of Wuthering Heights has been made for Comic Relief.
TV favourites Katherine Ryan and Jon Richardson play iconic characters Cathy and Heathcliff in a wacky sketch dubbed Withering Heights. It is a parody of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi's saucy Wuthering Heights adaptation.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The cultural phenomenon gets the Red Nose Day treatment as Katherine Ryan and Jon Richardson’s audition tapes for Wuthering Heights are set to be uncovered.
"Have you ever wondered who else may have auditioned for the leading roles in smash-hit film Wuthering Heights? Or rather, why Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi ended up in the role?
"Fret no more, as this Red Nose Day we are set to get a sneak peek at the exclusive audition tapes as Katherine Ryan takes on the role of Cathy, and Jon Richardson gives it his best Heathcliff, in ‘Withering Heights’.”
It will air as part of Comic Relief: Funny for Money, which kicks off tomorrow at 7pm on BBC One. (Ed Gleave)
Back to seriousness as
Dawn discusses the 'race reticence' in Wutheringh Heights 2026 concluding that,
Instead, in the film’s casting of Elordi as Heathcliff and Latif as Linton, we see a reticence to engage with the question of racial oppression at all. While this doesn’t make the adaptation “wrong”, it adds to the film’s almost complete lack of depth. (Ellie Crookes)
However, the film has renewed discussions about the book that has inspired several adaptations across the world, including Bollywood.
For Aathira Suresh, a physics student and film buff, the latest film by director Emerald Fennell may be imperfect, but has spurred conversations about the many shades of Brontë’s characters.
“I read ‘Wuthering Heights’ a year ago. I can vividly remember the descriptions,” she says.
“At a time when characters were usually black and white, stories were about good and bad, she offered something raw. That people could be grey, love is not always pure. And though many nowadays call it a romance, it was actually about obsession and revenge, the often unexplored side of love. Brontë showed how wounded pride and obsession can destroy lives.”
Notably, Brontë wrote at a time when women were often treated as little more than possessions. Within the haunting, windswept moorland setting, she also explored themes that resonate with feminist thought, Aathira believes.
Cathy herself is an unlikeable character, full of human flaws and feelings. She is not the typical heroine of the time, someone striving to carve a place in society or seeking goodness in humanity. Instead, she is as imperfect as any other human.
“Selfish, in love, and brimming with desire. Well, both were obsessed, weren’t they?” Aathira smiles.
The story unfolds non-linearly and follows two families through the eyes of two outsiders: Ellen “Nelly” Dean and Mr Lockwood. They are unreliable narrators. One is a long-serving housekeeper who witnessed the lives of both families, the Earnshaws of Wuthering Heights and the Lintons of Thrushcross Grange. The other is a new tenant renting one of the houses.
“This narrative approach makes the story intriguing. Readers do not see much direct interaction between Cathy and Heathcliff. That makes it all the more interesting,” says Archana Gopakumar, founder of The Reading Room in Thiruvananthapuram.
The often-projected image of the gentry is also questioned here. Nelly, the housekeeper, becomes the one narrating their turbulent lives.
“However, beyond a study of characters, their motivations and their breaking moments, ‘Wuthering Heights’ is an atmospheric horror,” Archana says.
“Bronte describes everything — the environment, the moor, the dogs (I love them!), the supernatural, the candlelit dark rooms and the dark corners of the two castle-like homes. That itself makes this book a beautiful read about a ‘beautiful’ disaster.”
The tragedy that hangs over every page unfolds slowly. The art of smothering one so seductively is what has made her pick up the book no fewer than three times.
“And it’s witty when you don’t expect it. The satire shines through when the families interact, while the horror unfolds through a toxic love story,” she smiles.
In today’s language, it would be called a “red flag” relationship. It is a story about “two people we pray never get together”. [...]
“It is an unapologetic, raw, wild story that examines patriarchy without any reservation,” says Archana.
This is perhaps what keeps the novel relevant even today. Tania Mary Vivera, associate professor of English literature at St Teresa’s College, believes the book’s enduring relevance is reflected in the many adaptations it has inspired.
She highlights another important aspect: Heathcliff’s origins. “He is a foundling whose identity cannot be fully established. He has been portrayed variously as white, wheatish and black in different film versions, none of which satisfied audiences,” she points out.
“Heathcliff is a mixed-race foundling, and that gave him freedom from the shackles of social identity, family name and regional identity. However, above all, it adds to him being misunderstood and mistrusted by everyone.”
Though tragedy lingers, Tania adds, the book ends on a hopeful note. It brings to closure the long line of generational abuse and trauma, and the progression of lonely, isolated, orphaned individuals whose lives toggled between intense love and extreme hatred.
She hopes future readers and the current generation — who will “undoubtedly” fall under the Gothic spell woven by Brontë — will carry that hope after they turn the last page. (Krishna P S)
A contributor to
The State News argues that 'We need more unfaithful adaptations'.
I’m certainly not saying that Wuthering Heights was a good adaptation; it's one thing to change it up by adding something new and another to completely miss the point. When the book was released in 1847, it was also seen as grotesque, given the unchecked passion and brutality seen in the various toxic relationships between characters. However, Bronte uses the central toxic relationship as a tool to demonstrate the violence of class and racial hierarchies disguised by social norms. That social critique is not evident in Fennel’s adaptation, the recent State News review of the film says, “the only theme seeming to emerge is that ‘being ravenous is good."
Despite this, there are a lot of people who groan at Hollywood for putting out remakes and adaptations, complaining about a lack of originality. In reality, a completely original, never-told-before plotline is hard to come by. Even if you start from scratch, it will start looking like a story someone’s already come up with pretty quickly. Think of how many times the story of star-crossed lovers has been told, and Shakespeare wasn’t even the first. But therein lies the solution to the stagnating story market: unfaithful adaptations.
The beauty of the unfaithful adaptation is that it can draw audiences in with familiar characters or the basic outline of a story, but by changing something like the framing, environment, or medium, it can create something unique and fresh in so many ways. (Isabella Cucchetti)
For
Bloomberg, the latest goings-on in world politics are just like Wuthering Heights.
Like many other women, I recently partook in the fanfare of seeing Wuthering Heights in theaters. If you prefer to keep your romance movies and global politics separate, you may want to stop reading now. The film’s central romance is notably similar to the US’ current diplomatic relationships. (Christina Sterbenz)
A review of the film on
Racket:
If I want Hollywood romance, I’ll watch William Wyler’s 1939 version of Wuthering Heights, with cinematographer Greg Toland demonstrating how the look of a movie deepens its emotional sweep and Laurence Olivier epitomizing what Americans want in a brooding Brit. If I want Yorkshire grit, I’ll watch Andrea Arnold’s muddy 2011 adaptation, which wrings the otherworldly elements from Brontë to offer a grubby glimpse of small-minded rural life. And if I want Wuthering Heights, I’ll just read the book. (Keith Harris)
Erie Reader gives Charli XCX's Wuthering Heights album 3.5/5 stars.
Opposed to BRAT's focus on dance and club music, Wuthering Heights is a dizzying array of sprawling orchestral strings and heartfelt melodies, carrying with it a profound understanding of Brontë's prose. The theme of finding oneself through romantic and platonic connections is channeled through Charli, as it was with Cathy in the 1847 literary classic. Much of this search for identity correlates with the pop star's real-life experiences, marrying her longtime partner George Daniel (of The 1975) in July 2025. This milestone, in turn, is indicative of the project's greater contemplative qualities. Where BRAT felt like escapism, Wuthering Heights feels like facing one's emotions head-on. While a massive departure from her 2024 smash hit, Wuthering Heights is Charli at her most emotional and experimental – truly an engaging middle ground for the literary truthers and film defenders. (Nathaniel Clark)
A selection of '10 classic songs that were inspired by great authors' on
Far Out Magazine includes Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights.
The Telegraph and Argus reports a boost in Yorkshire Dales holidays due to Wuthering Heights 2026. The
Brussels Brontë Blog has a post on a recent local Brontë-themed event put together by Waterstones Brussels.
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