I've just watched the first episode, and I thought it was the best classic adaptation on British television for years. (I have been tiring of costume-drama-by-numbers, and of Andrew Davies's superficial adaptations in particular, but they've got this one right, in my opinion). The directing is excellent, producing uniformly good performances from the actors - even from the likes of Johnny Vegas - and particularly from Charles Dance as Tulkinghorn and from the actress playing Esther Summerson (a tiresomely one-dimensional character in the book).
The camera moves around in response to characters' actions in an interesting way, and scenes open and close with swooshing sounds of the sort used these days in sci-fi feature films, keeping things vibrant. Since the early parts of the book are the least successful, I'm sure this serial can't help but go from strength to strength.
My favourite scene was Guppy's hilarious proposal of marriage to Esther.
