Lady Chatterley is Ken Russell's raunchy film of DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, starring Joely Richardson and Sean Bean. But would you be happy for your servants to watch it?

DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover was the most controversial novel of the 20th century. Published privately in Florence in 1928, it was immediately banned in Britain because of its graphic language. Lawrence, long disapproved of by the authorities for his explicit style, died two years later. The class angle of the book - sexually frustrated lady of the manor gets a bit of rough from the gamekeeper - hadn't endeared him to the upper crust either.

When Penguin announced plans to publish it in 1960, the Home Office tried to stop them in court. They failed because they could find only one witness for the prosecution, compared to the 35 academics who testified to the work's literary merit. And if the jury had any doubts that the establishment was out of touch, the infamous remark by the prosecuting QC, Mervyn Griffith-Jones helped them decide: "Ask yourselves", he blustered, "is it a book you would wish your wife or servants to read?" With the ban overturned, Lady Chatterley's Lover sold two million copies in a year.

Ken Russell's four-part adaptation features a top quality cast: Sean Bean is Mellors the gamekeeper, Joely Richardson is Lady Connie Chatterley, and James Wilby is Connie's disabled husband Clifford. By Russell's own standards, it's fairly restrained. There is some nudity and a few Middle English words, but there's nothing as outrageous as the book. The odd strategically-positioned bunch of flowers helps. Perceptive viewers might also spot that the 'South of France' is actually the Isle of Wight, and that the final scene which shows Mellors and Connie aboard a 'transatlantic liner' is actually the Isle of Wight ferry.

Tastefully and sensitively done, this is a must-see version of one of English Literature's most notorious novels. And let us reassure you: should you have any, it is a film you can happily let your servants watch...