Brideshead Revisited: The Complete Series

Star Review

Now presented fully restored, this is one of the greatest television adaptations. John Mortimer’s script remains unflinchingly faithful to Waugh's classic novel, the plot progresses at wonderfully measured pace, allowing the viewer time to absorb and digest the characters at their leisure, and it also displays British acting at its finest.
The narrator is Charles Ryder (Jeremy Irons), and the story begins with his meeting the handsome, charming aristocrat Sebastian Flyte (Anthony Andrews) whilst they are both in their first year at Oxford. Flyte is doomed to despair and self-loathing at the hands of his Catholic background and also his unwillingness to leave his childhood behind. As the story unfolds and Ryder’s life becomes intertwined with the Flyte family, the viewer is left ‘drowning in honey’ as we meander through the summer days before the Second World War. The plot progresses however and the innocent fun of youth is slowly replaced by sad cynicism as the central relationship of Charles and Sebastian grows stale. The production also benefits from Olivier and Gielgud’s marvellous, complementary performances as the fathers of Sebastian and Charles respectively - the one bitter, the other detached and confused. Et in Arcadia Ego.

Caroline Hunter on 5th September 2005

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Film Description

A classic television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel that remains as captivating today as when it was first broadcast. The remarkable cast, including Geilgud and Olivier as the two fathers, bring to life Waugh's amazing dialogue in this story of the tempestuous journey of Charles Ryder (Irons), a young man of no family or wealth who becomes involved in the aristocratic world of the anglo-catholic Flyte family through his friendship with Sebastian (Andrews) at Oxford.

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DVD Extras

• 'Making of' documentary
• Jeremy Irons
• Diana Quick, Nicholas Grace
• Anthony Andrews
• Derek Granger (Producer) and Charles Sturridge (Director))
• Image gallery
• Commentaries: Michael Lindsay-Hogg (Director)

Film Details

Cast

Anthony Andrews, Jeremy Irons, Laurence Olivier, Stephane Audran, Claire Bloom

Technical Details