''Anna Karenina'' is a four-part British television adaptation of
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
's
1877 novel of the same name.
It was directed by David Blair and aired in the United Kingdom on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
from 9 to 30 May 2000 and in America on
PBS ''
Masterpiece Theatre
''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH-TV, WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaim ...
'' in 2001.
Plot
Anna is travelling by train from
St. Petersburg to
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
to visit her brother, Stiva. Stiva is married to Dolly; however, he has been having an affair with the governess of his children and needs Anna's help to repair his marriage.
Anna too is married, to Karenin, an important official, with an 8-year-old son. At the end of the journey she meets Count Vronsky, the son of her travelling companion on the train, and in due course she and Vronsky begin an affair.
In the meantime, Stiva's friend Constantine Levin courts Dolly's younger sister Kitty. Levin and Kitty are both unmarried. But Kitty is initially attracted to Vronksy and rejects Levin's first proposal; he leaves Moscow and returns to his farm in the countryside.
Nikolai, Constantine Levin's brother, cohabits with a former prostitute named Masha and is constantly in debt.
Cast
*
Helen McCrory as Anna
*
Kevin McKidd as Vronsky
*
Stephen Dillane
Stephen John Dillane (; born 27 March 1957) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Leonard Woolf in the 2002 film '' The Hours'', Stannis Baratheon in ''Game of Thrones'', and Thomas Jefferson in the 2008 HBO miniseries ''John Ad ...
as Karenin
*
Mark Strong
Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963), is a British actor, best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in '' Stardust'' (2007), Archibald in ''RocknRolla'' (2008), Lord Henry Blackwood in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (20 ...
as Stiva
*
Amanda Root as Dolly
*
Douglas Henshall as Levin (Constantine "Kostya")
*
Paloma Baeza as Kitty
*
Abigail Cruttenden
Abigail Lucy Cruttenden (born 23 March 1968) is an English actress.
Cruttenden played opposite Sean Bean as his character Richard Sharpe's wife Jane in several episodes of the TV series '' Sharpe.'' In 2007, Cruttenden joined the cast from the ...
as Betsy
*
Paul Rhys as Nikolai
*
Gillian Barge as Princess Shcherbatskya
*
Malcolm Sinclair as Prince Shcherbatsky
*
Victoria Carling as Annushka
Reception
It received a positive review from Mark Law in ''The Guardian''.
External links
*
''Masterpiece'' official page
References
{{Anna Karenina
2000 British television series debuts
2000 British television series endings
2000s British drama television series
Channel 4 television dramas
Adaptations of works by Leo Tolstoy
Television series set in the 19th century
Television shows based on Russian novels
2000s British television miniseries
Television series by All3Media
English-language television shows
Television shows set in Russia
Television series set in the 1870s