Brideshead Revisited (TV serial)

Infobox Television Film
name = Brideshead Revisited


caption = "Brideshead Revisited" DVD cover
format = Period drama
runtime = 659 min.
studio = Granada Television
writer = Novel: Evelyn Waugh
Screenplay: John Mortimer
director = Charles Sturridge
Michael Lindsay-Hogg
producer = Derek Granger
starring = Jeremy Irons
Anthony Andrews
Phoebe Nicholls
Jane Asher
Simon Jones
John Gielgud
Laurence Olivier
music = Geoffrey Burgon
narrated = Jeremy Irons
country = United Kingdom
language = English
network = ITV
first_aired = 12 October
last_aired = 21 December 1981
num_episodes = 11
imdb_id = 0083390
amg_id = 7102

"Brideshead Revisited" is a 1981 British television serial based on the novel of the same name by Evelyn Waugh. The book was adapted to the screen by producer Derek Granger and Martin Thompson after the initial script by John Mortimer was rejected. It was directed mainly by Charles Sturridge, but part of one or more episodes by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. It stars Jeremy Irons as Charles Ryder, Anthony Andrews as Lord Sebastian Flyte, Laurence Olivier as Lord Marchmain, Claire Bloom as Lady Marchmain, Diana Quick as Lady Julia Flyte, and Jane Asher as Lady Celia Ryder; also featuring Phoebe Nicholls as Lady Cordelia Flyte, John Gielgud as Edward Ryder, Simon Jones as Lord Brideshead, Nickolas Grace as Anthony Blanche, Stéphane Audran as Cara, Lord Marchmain's lover, and Charles Keating as Rex Mottram.

The Oxford scenes were largely filmed at Waugh's alma mater, Hertford College, Wadham College and Christ Church. The location for Brideshead, the fictional manor, was Castle Howard in Yorkshire. Scenes on the deck of a transatlantic liner were filmed aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2. By the standards of British television, the drama series of the late 1970s was lavish; Granada Television's broadcasting franchise was up for competitive renewal in 1981 so the company designed "Brideshead Revisited" to prove themselves a quality company.

It was shown in the United States on Public Broadcasting Service and was considered daring at the time for its willingness to show an extended sex scene between Charles Ryder and Julia Flyte. Tom Wolfe wrote that the series was successful in the United States because it was a plutography, i.e., a "graphic depiction of the lives of the rich."

The memorable theme with a high baroque trumpet was composed by Geoffrey Burgon.

In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, the adaptation was placed 10th.

This programme received so many votes that it finished seventh in the best of "Masterpiece Theatre" vote conducted for the 35th anniversary of that anthology series. Anthony Andrews came on at the end of this program to thank the viewers and then explained that it had not aired on "Masterpiece Theatre". It had aired in the US as a part of the PBS series "Great Performances" in 1982.

Episodes

References

*cite news | url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,6000,1221962,00.html#down | title=Waugh versus Hollywood | publisher=The Guardian | author=Giles Foden | date=2004-05-22 | accessdate=2007-04-21
*

External links

*imdb title|0083390|Brideshead Revisited
* [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/B/htmlB/bridesheadre/bridesheadre.htm "Brideshead Revisited"] at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/536563/index.html "Brideshead Revisited"] at the British Film Institute Screenonline
* [http://www.abbotshill.freeserve.co.uk/Brideshead.html A Companion to "Brideshead Revisited"]