If Sarah Lancashire’s return to our screens in Black Doves is feeling a little way off (this winter!), don’t fret because we’ve got another unmissable series up our sleeves – and the outstanding period drama is available to watch tonight. It might have been seven years since it aired, but Sarah's two-part drama, Wuthering Heights, won over quite the army of fans when it first aired in 2009, and it’s not exactly hard to see why.
The ITV drama is a sumptuous take on Emily Brontë's classic novel and brings Catherine Earnshaw (Charlotte Riley) and Heathcliff’s (Tom Hardy) doomed romance to life from the moment they meet to the tragic end many of us will be familiar with. And who’s the housekeeper who witnesses it all? Sarah Lancashire, who plays Nelly Dean, of course – which only makes the drama even more watchable.
With the series available to stream now, here’s everything you need to know about ITV’s Wuthering Heights before you watch it, including the plot, cast and how to tune in.
What is Wuthering Heights about?
The ITV drama, which first aired in 2009, is an adaptation of Emily Brontë's tale of doomed love. The two-part series stars Tom Hardy as the tormented orphan Heathcliff and Charlotte Riley as Catherine "Cathy" Earnshaw and explores traces their bond from childhood innocence to something that turns far darker in adulthood.
If you’re not familiar with the original story, when Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw (Burn Gorman) are young, their father adopts an orphan who he finds on the streets of Liverpool. They name him Heathcliff and he and Catherine become practically inseparable.
While Mr Earnshaw (Kevin McNally) comes to love Heathcliff arguably more than his biological children, everything changes when he dies. Hindley immediately turns Heathcliff into a servant and is determined to break the bond between him and Catherine, which proves successful when she goes to stay at Thrushcross Grange and meets Edgar Linton (Andrew Lincoln).
Edgar is well-educated and wealthy; in fact, he represents everything Heathcliff isn’t. So when he and Catherine go on to marry, Heathcliff finds himself in a bitter state of jealously and is determined to get revenge – and the woman he loves.
Interestingly, Tom Hardy and his co-star Charlotte Riley went on to get married in real-life after starring alongside each other. She told The Times about bonding on set, explaining: “There's that famous line – 'Whatever our souls are made of, yours and mine are the same'. We shot it in a tiny church on the moors and it was beautiful.
“We were sitting in a pew and I had to turn to Tom and say my line. And he absolutely died laughing. Because when you say it with my northern accent, it sounds like, 'Whatever arseholes are made of…' And that was it, we were gone for the rest of the day.”
As well as the chemistry between the pair, one of the real highlights of the series is, of course, Sarah Lancashire’s star turn as Nelly Dean. Crucial to the story, Nelly is the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights and witnesses Catherine and Heathcliff’s story as it plays out.
Who’s in the cast of Wuthering Heights?
The main cast of Wuthering Heights includes:
- Tom Hardy (MobLand) as Heathcliff
- Charlotte Riley (Peaky Blinders) as Catherine Earnshaw
- Sarah Lancashire (Last Tango in Halifax) as Nelly Dean
- Andrew Lincoln (Coldwater) as Edgar Linton
- Burn Gorman (Watcher)as Hindley Earnshaw
- Rosalind Halstead (Dominion) as Isabella Linton
- Kevin McNally (Apartment 7A) as Mr Earnshaw
Is the Wuthering Heights TV series any good?
Yes – in our opinion, it's even better than the 2026 film. Fans have particularly praised the performances from Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley, which we'd agree are spectacular, but the real genius of the series lies in how we see the relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy play out from such a young age. It gives us a much deeper insight into their characters, which other adaptations haven't quite managed to pull off.
How can I watch Wuthering Heights?
Wuthering Heights is available to watch now on ITVX.
What other Sarah Lancashire dramas can I watch now?
If you’re looking for something that'll inject a bit of joy into your day, we’d recommend Dad’s Army. The 2016 film is a reboot of the beloved comedy classic and takes us to 1944 when World War II is almost over and the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard find their operations interrupted by the arrival of journalist Rose Winters (Catherine Zeta-Jones). You can watch Dad’s Army on Prime Video. Alternatively, if you’re a crime drama fan, we’d suggest Five Daughters. The deeply moving series tells the stories of the five victims of the Ipswich murders in 2006, focusing on the final days of the victims’ lives, the impact their deaths had on their families and the police investigation to track down the murderer. Five Daughters is available to watch on Apple TV.
