Television series
Wuthering Heights
Other titles called Wuthering Heights: the 1939 film, the 2011 film.
- Period drama
- Romance
- Very dark
Tom Hardy stars in this fierce, 120-minute ITV adaptation of Brontë's gothic novel. Raw performances and moorland cinematography make the destructive passion between Heathcliff and Cathy feel immediate and urgent. It's Wuthering Heights stripped to its emotional core: obsession, class, and the wreckage people leave behind when they choose wrong.
If you liked this
Jane Eyre2011
Another Brontë heroine navigating love, class, and a brooding man. Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender have the same crackling tension Hardy and Riley generate—raw, intelligent, and never safe.
But The pacing is slow and contemplative. If you're here for passion as spectacle, this is more interior than Wuthering Heights.
Penny Dreadful2014
Gothic atmosphere, wounded characters, and genuine menace. Eva Green's intensity matches what you'll find in Hardy's performance. Dark Victorian London feels as claustrophobic as the moors.
But It sprawls across seasons and occasionally buries plot under atmosphere. Commitment required; payoff uneven.
The Affair2014
A passionate, destructive relationship examined from every angle. Like Wuthering Heights, it shows how one choice—one affair—ripples across years and ruins people. Emotionally ruthless.
But The narrative gimmick of multiple perspectives can feel gimmicky. Some will find it repetitive; others, essential.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Wuthering Heights
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Wuthering Heights1939
The same novel, radically reimagined for a different era and audience, showing how adaptation is interpretation.
Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in the American studio version—more romantic, less brutal. See how Hollywood softened the edges and changed the emotional landscape entirely. A fascinating contrast.
But It's a different story dressed in the same clothes. Purists find it a betrayal; others treasure its melodrama. At 104 minutes, you'll feel the studio compromises keenly.
More like this (8)
Rebecca2020
Claustrophobic, obsessive, and gorgeously lit. Another story where the past refuses to stay buried and a woman is trapped between two men. Ben Whishaw carries similar unhinged energy.
But It's a ghost story hiding as a love story. If you prefer psychology to the supernatural, you might feel unsettled in the wrong way.
Far from the Madding Crowd2015
Thomas Hardy (the other one), moorland, and a woman caught between suitors with wildly different worlds to offer. Carey Mulligan and Michael Sheen have the same class-and-passion collision at the story's heart.
But It's quieter and more concerned with rural life than Wuthering Heights. The drama is internal, not explosive.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles2008
Hayley Atwell in a story about a woman destroyed by men's choices and social forces. Like Cathy, Tess pays the price for circumstances beyond her control. Genuinely tragic.
But The tragedy is bleaker than Wuthering Heights and less cathartic. Misery accumulates without mercy.
The Miniaturist2017
Mystery, obsession, and a woman constrained by marriage to a stranger in a beautiful, claustrophobic setting. Gorgeous and unsettling. Gil Bellows and Romola Garai crackle together.
But The magical-realism elements divided viewers. Some found them essential; others felt they muddied the narrative.
Crimson Peak2015
Gothic, luxurious, and built on a passion that turns poisonous. Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska explore love, deception, and a house that harbours secrets. Visually sumptuous.
But It's more fairy tale than realism. The gothic theatricality might feel overwrought if you prefer grounded drama.
The Little Stranger2018
Post-war decay, class tension, and a man whose presence destabilizes a fragile family. Domhnall Gleeson brings unsettling intensity. Atmosphere and dread build steadily.
But The ending is deliberately ambiguous and frustrating. Psychological unease lingers without resolution.
Under the Skin2014
Both are atmospheric, character-driven stories about an outsider moving through landscape and community, causing damage through their mere presence.
Scarlett Johansson as something inhuman hunting on Scottish highlands. Hypnotic, unsettling, and visually extraordinary. Like Wuthering Heights in mood—desolate, sensual, dangerous—but in a sci-fi register.
But There is almost no dialogue. It's glacial and abstract. If you need plot clarity and narrative momentum, this will frustrate you.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things2020
Both explore how romantic entanglement can feel like imprisonment, and how the past bleeds into the present in ways that distort reality.
A woman trapped in a relationship that feels off in ways she can't articulate, spiralling through time and space. Like Wuthering Heights, it's about love that corrodes rather than sustains. Formally experimental and psychologically brutal.
But It's confusing by design. The narrative loops, shifts perspective, and refuses clarity. If you want resolution and linearity, don't watch this.
