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I move to my Georgian window shutter as the cold night air seeps in, the damp smell of fresh rain in the air as I grasp the brass handle. Suddenly, I’m aware of the breeze on my fingers, the dark sight of the passage as I hear a faint noise, a wailing, the kind that can only come from autumn wind. ‘Heathcliff’, it seems to whisper. Or had I imagined it?

For the longest time, Wuthering Heights has captured my soul and my imagination in a way no other novel or story ever could. Mythologically poignant and yet painfully plausible. The story of how Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff fall in love, destroying the lives of two ill-fated families in the process, has never been far from my mind this time of year.

And so, I thought to myself, why not take the opportunity of the upcoming release of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights (2026) and delve into some previous adaptations of this gothic classic by Emily Brontë? The two I have selected were released seventy years apart. They exemplify the full range of approaches an adaptation of this book can take. Which, I wonder, will Fennell lean towards?

And yes, don’t worry, I love the song by Kate Bush.

Wuthering Heights: The 1847 Novel

By way of context, this book changed my life. It reignited a love of reading that had lain dormant within me since the likes of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson as a child. I inherited a love of history from my mother. After one trip to Haworth in Yorkshire to visit the Brontë Parsonage Museum, I was so enchanted that I bought myself a pretty copy of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. I read it on a second trip to Yorkshire, Keighley, and Haworth, within a couple of years.

I fell as madly in love with the Yorkshire moors and the work of the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) as Cathy does Heathcliff. They remain one of the most revered and influential literary families to this day.

Emily wrote Wuthering Heights in her twenties. A tall, imposing figure with a fiery temper and a penchant for the home. Published in 1847 alongside her sisters’ famous works, Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey, initially, Victorian audiences condemned Wuthering Heights for its dark themes and unlikable characters. In modern times, it is these very qualities that have rescued the reputation of Emily and her book, restoring them to their true status as a genius and a masterpiece, respectively.

Wuthering Heights (1939)

By far the most instantly recognisable adaptation of Emily’s classic is the 1939 black-and-white feature starring Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff. It is this film that most will think of when asked, and which has defined, at least until next year, how we understand this story. The spectre of this iconic film looms large over Fennell’s upcoming take; let me explain why.

This film only adapts the first half of the novel. Omitting Heathcliff’s savage revenge on the Linton and Earnshaw families makes the whole story far more romantic than Emily ever intended. Her masterful framing of the story as a flashback recounted to Mr Lockwood, unwelcome visitor to the Heights, is present, as is Cathy’s tragic end. It is this film (and perhaps, to a lesser extent, Kate Bush) which has romanticised the story to such an extent that Heathcliff has become a byword for a dark, handsome, brooding hero.

As readers of the novel and viewers of the subsequent adaptation will know, this is a far cry from the real Heathcliff.

Wuthering Heights (2009)

This ITV-produced two-part TV movie has got to be my absolute favourite adaptation. The cast features Tom Hardy as Heathcliff, Charlotte Riley as Cathy, Andrew Lincoln as Edgar Linton and Sarah Lancashire as the novel’s narrator, Nelly Dean. Apart from the intrusive, fumbling fool that is Mr Lockwood, no detail of the novel is left out.

My first praise must go to Sarah as Nelly, a vital character in the book. She is present for almost every event, relating to the reader, and yet takes a back seat in most adaptations. Here, thanks to Lancashire’s compelling performance, her agency is restored as a prime mover behind certain events in the story.

Riley likewise deserves credit for portraying the childish, petulant, selfish girl. Her portrayal of Cathy is far removed from the romantic heroine we are so often served by cinema. Instead, we get every facet of her ugly personality as she encourages Heathcliff’s affection whilst planning a separate future with Edgar.

Completing this novel-accurate trend is Hardy as Heathcliff. Hardy conveys every bit of the wild animal that lurks within the man. In one animalistic scream upon hearing about Cathy’s death, he stole the show for me and lit the fire in my soul that burned as I first read the novel.

With accuracy reportedly low on Fennell’s February list of priorities, this adaptation gives you a true sense of the novel.

Wuthering Conclusions

None of us knows what we can expect from the upcoming Wuthering Heights (2026). And no amount of online outrage will change that. The teaser left room, in its final montage, for the idea that this film will tell the whole story. From Cathy and Heathcliff’s childhood to her death, at the very least.

I reserve my judgment until I have seen for myself. Until then, check out these two previous takes on Emily Brontë’s genre-defining masterpiece. After all, no matter what we make of the new one, these two aren’t going anywhere!

I, for one, can’t wait to see what this latest adaptation can bring to our interpretation of the novel. We can all rest assured that, try as they might, none will ever approach the scale and impact of the book itself.

Wuthering Heights, the 1939 film and 2009 two-part drama, are available for purchase on Amazon Prime.

Feature image credit: Warner Bros. Other image credits: MGM/Amazon, ITV/Shutterstock.