This is by far the best version of all, but that comes as no surprise since it is Masterpiece Theatre.I have seen all the other versions, and the plot layout and the actors chosen for the roles are great. The actors have passion and chemistry with each other, which is lacking in most of the other versions. Too bad you can only get this on Ebay and for over $50 - though I gave into that!

this is the only adaptation i have seen for the great Jane Eyre book and i liked how BBC managed to tell the story with changing any of the details but i think that there were some small details which made the book so great not mentioned in the series and that disappointed me somehow. The total ignorance of Jane's suffering and hunger after leaving Thornfield really disappointed me and made me give 8 star rating instead of 9 stars for this well done series. I really liked how Ruth Wilson performed her role awesomely but i think BBC had done mistake by not making Toby Stephens so ugly as Mr. Rochester should be. All in all, i think BBC did good job in filming this masterpiece book.

Lovely camera work and long shots, but for all its four hours the production felt rushed and dumbed-down. So many compelling portions of the original story were left out, as if the directors and screenwriters thought the audience would get bored if they didn't push the story along. It felt like an on-screen Cliff notes for Jane Eyre. Wedding, crazy woman, fire, heroine jumps into carriage, rides, door opens, heroine collapses. Whew!Also, for as charming as Ruth Wilson is, with her slightly jutting lower jaw, her reading of her lines seemed hollow. Her Jane lacked the inner fire and will that Jane possesses in the book. Or perhaps the subtlety of her performance was lost in the swelling strings of the rather oily sound track, another annoyance that suggests the movie makers either didn't have confidence in their ability to tell the story, or didn't trust in their audience to appreciate it.

I did enjoy this version, but having read the book, I was left feeling 'insulted' on Bronte's behalf, and a potentially excellent mini-series was marred. Why? Well, we are used to watching things on the screen that are greatly changed from reality, and one learns to overlook the offending details - otherwise nothing would be enjoyable; and there is nothing wrong with a little poetic license. However, when something claims to be an adaptation of a classic work, one would hope that it would retain the core elements of that work.. I tried not to dwell too much on the omission of huge chunks of the book which depicts Jane's 'pre-Rochester' life. I even tried not to feel too indignant at Jane's lack of 'plain-ness': I feel that Ruth Wilson is more attractive than Bronte intended Jane to be.. However, when we meet Mr Rochester, and he is considerably more attractive than depicted in the book, I began to feel that the makers of this adaptation didn't see where Bronte was coming from at all.. It wasn't about physical attraction. Lord knows we see enough of that everywhere. It was about the connection of their 'inner selves', a meeting of minds and souls! When this Mr Rochester asks Jane if she can make him more handsome, it just sounds silly! What I object to mostly however, is the scenes following the wedding prior to Jane leaving. This was just so not how it was written. It does not fit with the book/Jane/Bronte at all. It's just plain wrong! They also watered down Edward's injuries at the end, as if Jane couldn't have loved him the way he was; then failed to inform us of the improvement in his condition.I'm a sucker for a good romance, so I still enjoyed it, and had I not read the book first I would have scored it 9. However, a few marks must be lost for the disregard shown to Ms Bronte's work.I'll watch the 1973 then 83 versions next. I only wish I'd read this stuff years ago!