the novel, are considerably altered, as are the mechanics of the reconciliation between George and his mother, which is brought about by Mrs. Bagnet in the book. The storyline concerning Mrs. Snagsby's paranoid jealousy of her husband is omitted altogether. Production overview The serial was produced in-house by the BBC with some co-production funding from United States PBS broadcaster WGBH. It was shown on BBC One, on Thursdays at 20:00 and Fridays at 20:30, following the BBC's most popular programme—EastEnders—in an attempt to attract more viewers, particularly younger ones. The series started with an hour long on Thursday 27 October 2005, with subsequent episodes being 30 minutes, shown twice weekly. The serial was designed to air in the format of a soap opera, somewhat experimental for the television drama genre, but in keeping with Dickens' original serialisation. BBC One showed omnibus editions of each week's episodes on the Sunday following first broadcast. Though some critics have argued against the series being shown in this format, programme makers and commentators defended their decision by saying that Dickens's writings were long, complex, very popular stories told over a series of small instalments, just like a soap-opera and claiming that if he had been alive in 2005 he would have been writing for big signature dramas. Bleak House was indeed originally published in monthly instalments, with cliffhangers used to maintain the continuing interest of the readership. In the United States, the eight hours were broadcast on PBS on Masterpiece Theatre, where they were compressed and slightly edited into six instalments. The opening and closing episodes were two hours in length, and the middle four episodes were each a single hour. Most PBS stations showed the first-run for the new week's instalment at 21:00 on Sundays from 22 January to 26 February 2006. Bleak House was rebroadcast on Masterpiece Theatre in 2007. Four instalments, two hours each, were shown on most PBS stations from 22 April to 13 May. Some other overseas broadcasters, such as Australia's ABC, purchased the series in an eight-part, one-hour-episode format. The programme is also notable for being one of the first British drama series to be shot and produced in the high-definition television format, which required the make-up and set design to be much more detailed than previous productions. It was filmed on location in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, and Kent from February 2005 through to July 2005. The exterior of