A movie about the life of Wuthering Heights author Emily Bronte is now on BBC iPlayer (Picture: Michael Wharley)
A ‘beautifully imagined portrait’ of the life of writer Emily Bronte is now streaming for free ahead of the blockbuster movie adaptation of her only novel.

Released in 2022, the biographical drama Emily is a part-fictionalised take on the author, best known for her only novel Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature.

Later this week, Emerald Fennell’s adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Catherine and Heathcliff will also hit screens.

During her life Bronte, who published under the pen name Ellis Bell, also wrote a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte and Anne titled Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.

Despite her being one of the most celebrated English authors across history, her solitary nature while she was alive has made it difficult for biographers and historians to discover more about her.

It was said Emily never made any friends outside of her family and that she was unsociable and had an extremely shy nature. In 1848, at the age of 30, Bronte died from tuberculosis. Her death came a year after her revered novel was released.

However, a few years ago the film Emily, which starred Sex Education’s Emma Mackey as the titular character, sought to shine a light on her life.

Emily starred Emma Mackey as the writer (Picture: Michael Wharley/ Bleecker Street Films via AP)
With little information to work with, it had to take creative licence to tell her story – including a fictional romantic relationship with the young curate William Weightman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen).

However, it was critically acclaimed and currently holds an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with its critics consensus reading: ‘With a bracingly irreverent approach to its story and Emma Mackey bringing Brontë vibrantly to life, Emily is a biopic that manages to feel true while taking entertaining creative liberties.’

‘A ravishing period drama that plays fast and loose with the facts in order to paint a portrait of the author that bleeds with the same heart-in-its-hands emotionality she had to suffuse into her work,’ IndieWire wrote in its review.

‘Led by a stunning Emma Mackey, Emily is a striking depiction of a woman embracing her individuality while crafting an iconic piece of literature,’ ScreenRant wrote.

It took creative licence with telling her story, including a romance with a young curate (Picture: Warner Bros/ Bleecker Street Films)

One review said the film was ‘ravishing to the eye’ (Picture: Michael Wharley/ Bleecker Street Films via AP)
‘Emily, pointedly, does not wallow in the misery we like to ascribe to her short and frequently tragic life. There is great buoyancy and humour in the film,’ The Independent added.

Meanwhile Metro’s review read: ‘Unevenly paced, but ravishing to the eye, it’s a movie that could be ripped from the pages of Vogue. The cinematography is sublime. Some bits work, others don’t so much. But it’s ambitious and almost painfully heartfelt. Less a movie and more a sensational example of Brontë fan fiction.’

This week the film was added to BBC iPlayer.

In an interview with Metro, director Frances O’Connor said viewers shouldn’t expect an historical account of Bronte’s all-too-short life.

‘I’ve taken inspiration from certain elements from Wuthering Heights, and also the biographies that I read, and put those pieces together to create a narrative, which is not a biopic. It’s more like its own thing,’ she said.

Emma is best known for starring in Sex Education alongside Aimee Lou Wood and Asa Butterfield (Picture: Sam Taylor/ Eleven/ Netflix/ Kobal/ Shutterstock)

The latest Wuthering Heights film adaptation will also be released later this week (Picture: Warner Bros)
Discussing the appeal of Brontë, she added: ‘She’s a mystery, we know so little about her – and I’m an introvert and this character is an introvert! She died when she was 30 and yet she wrote this gargantuan piece of work and there’s so much in it. You can kind of feel who she was through the novel.

‘She was somebody who suffered from things that just seemed very modern – she had social anxiety and she struggled with her sense of who she was, and her relationship with her sisters feels very real.’

Emily also stars Fionn Whitehead, Alexandra Dowling and Adrian Dunbar.

Although a letter from her publisher indicated that Emily had begun to write a second novel, the manuscript has never been found.

Emily is streaming on BBC iPlayer. Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday, February 13.

A version of this article was originally published on April 24, 2025.