Fortunes of War (tv series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Fortunes of War


caption = Cover of a VHS of the series
genre = Drama
writer = Olivia Manning (novels)
Alan Plater (adaptation)
director = James Cellan Jones
starring = Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Ronald Pickup, Robert Stephens, Alan Bennett, Rupert Graves
theme_music_composer =
opentheme =
endtheme =
composer = Richard Holmes
country = United Kingdom
language = English
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 7
list_episodes = #Episode list
executive_producer =
co_exec =
producer =
supervising_producer =
asst_producer =
co-producer =
editor = Tariq Anwar
story_editor =
location = Greece (1 month), Egypt (2 months), Yugoslavia (2 months), Ealing Studios (interior shots)
cinematography = David Feig, John Record
camera =
runtime = 60 (per episode)
network = BBC, in association with WGBH-Boston and Primetime Television
picture_format =
audio_format =
first_run = 1987
first_aired = 11 October 1987
last_aired = 22 November 1987
related =
website =
production_website =
imdb_id = 0092353
tv_com_id = 8716

Fortunes of War was an adaptation of Olivia Manning's cycle of novels of the same name for television by the BBC, starring Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle, lecturer in English Literature in Bucharest during the early part of the Second World War, and Emma Thompson (then Branagh's real-life wife) as his wife Harriet. Other cast members included Ronald Pickup, Robert Stephens, Alan Bennett, Philip Madoc and Rupert Graves. As a big-budget (it cost $12 million) television drama set in the mid 20th century, it was intended as the BBC's response to Granada Television's recent successes with "Brideshead Revisited" in 1981 and "The Jewel in the Crown" in 1984.

Episode list

#September 1939 - Newlyweds Guy and Harriet Pringle arrive in Bucharest, as does the impoverished Prince Yakimov, who takes up a temporary job as a journalist on a British paper to save himself from complete poverty. Harriet is introduced to her fellow expatriates (making friends with the middle-class Bella, who has married a local man), and to Guy's Romanian friend and possible old flame Sophie. However, their happy life is interrupted by the assassination of Romania's prime minister Călinescu and Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. Rumours fly of a German invasion of Romania and Guy, though absorbed in his work and organising social events, is encouraged by his Communism to take steps to protect the family of a Jewish student of his from the anti-Semitic Romanian regime.
#January 1940 -
#June 1940
#October 1940
#April 1941
#Autumn 1942
#January 1943 - As Guy struggles to cope with his presumed loss of Harriet, Simon Boulderstone starts his painful and slow road to recovery, with moral support from an unexpected source. Harriet makes a new friend and rediscovers old ones as she takes in the sights of Damascus, whilst Aiden Pratt's feelings of rejection bring about unhappy consequences. The lives of the inhabitants of the "Garden City" are forever changed by an emotional reunion, a quick marriage and a sudden death.

Awards

Wins

*BAFTAs, 1988
**Best Actress - Emma Thompson (jointly for this series and "Tutti Frutti").
**Best Costume Design - Christine Rawlins
**Best Design - Tim Harvey

Nominations

*BAFTAs, 1988
**Best Actor - Kenneth Branagh (For the episode "The Lady's Not for Burning".)
**Best Drama Series - Betty Willingale and James Cellan Jones
**Best Film Editor - Tariq Anwar
**Best Film Sound - Terry Elms, Ken Hains, Judith Robson and Kim Houldin
**Best Make Up - Elizabeth Rowell
**Best Original Television Music - Richard Holmes

External links

* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1071284/index.html British Film Institute Screen Online]
*Imdb title|0092353|Fortunes of War