I finished watching Sparkhouse last night. I had to watch it in sections given restraints on my time. Initially, I found it very dark and quite depressing but after watching the complete series, I found it to be very moving and thought provoking. It has an ending that left me wanting to know more about what happened to the characters ... a little like North and South did. I admit that I have never read Wuthering Heights so I am unable to draw any parallels to the novel but I'm interested in finding the novel after watching this series.
I unearthed a number of articles about Sparkhouse thanks to a google search and Richard Armitage Online. (Thanks again, Annette!). It was released in 2002 and created for BBC1 by Red Production Company. The story, written by Sally Wainwright, follows the lives of two characters, Carol (Sarah Smart) and Andrew (Joe McFadden) who have been inseparable since they were 12 year olds. Andrew is an only child, the son of a doctor, Paul (Nick Farrell) and teacher, Kate (Celia Imrie), who have high expectations for him in terms of career and relationships. Carol, by contrast, comes from a disadvantaged, abusive background. Her father, Richard Bolton (Alun Armstrong), is a heavy drinking, aggressive sheep farmer. As far as Andrew's parents are concerned, she will never be good enough for Andrew and they do everything in their power to prevent Andrew and Carol from being together. Eventually they marry different people but can never stop loving one another. The consequences are tragic. Richard Armitage plays the reliable and gentle John Standring, who works on the farm and who has been in love with Carol for years. He is what we would call out here, a "salt of the earth" type character - a good bloke.
Some interesting links courtesy of Richard Armitage Online and also a google search:
1. Interview with sally wainwright