Fortunes of War (tv series)

Fortunes of War
Cover of a VHS of the series
Genre	Drama
Written by	Olivia Manning (novels) Alan Plater (adaptation)
Directed by	James Cellan Jones
Starring	Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Ronald Pickup, Robert Stephens, Alan Bennett, Rupert Graves
Composer(s)	Richard Holmes
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	7 (List of episodes)
Production
Editor(s)	Tariq Anwar
Location(s)	Greece (1 month), Egypt (2 months), Yugoslavia (2 months), Ealing Studios (interior shots)
Cinematography	David Feig, John Record
Running time	60 (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC, in association with WGBH-Boston and Primetime Television
First shown in	1987
Original run	October 11 1987 – November 22 1987
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

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.

[edit] Episode list

September 1939 - Newly weds 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 Cãlinescu 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.

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

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