Bleak House is BBC television drama first broadcast in 1985. The serial was adapted by Arthur Hopcraft from Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House and it was the second adaptation by the BBC. It ran for eight episodes and starred Diana Rigg as Lady Dedlock, with Denholm Elliott in the role of John Jarndyce. In the United States the series ran under the Masterpiece Theatre series umbrella. A notable plot omission in this version is the story of Caddy Jellyby and the Turveydrop family.