''Casanova'' is a 2005

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

comedy drama serial, written by television scriptwriter

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies (born 27 April 1963), better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer whose works include ''Queer as Folk'', ''The Second Coming'', '' Casanova'', the 2005 revival of the BBC One scien ...

and directed by Sheree Folkson. Produced by

Red Production Company Red Production Company is a British independent television production company owned by StudioCanal. Background Red Production Company was formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, a television producer who had worked on '' Our Friends in the North' ...

for

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales i ...

in association with

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

, the 3-episode series was first screened on

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...

station

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

from 13 March, with a repeat on mainstream analogue network

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

commencing 4 April.

Synopsis

Telling the story of the life of 18th century Italian adventurer

Giacomo Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

, based on his own twelve-volume memoirs, the one-hour episodes star

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vi ...

as the older Casanova looking back on his life and

David Tennant David John Tennant ('' né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the ...

as the younger version.

Rose Byrne Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film ''Dallas Doll'' (1994), and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She obtained her first leading film role i ...

Rupert Penry-Jones Rupert William Penry-Jones (born 22 September 1970) is a British actor, known for his performances as Adam Carter in '' Spooks'', Clive Reader in ''Silk'', DI Joseph Chandler in ''Whitechapel'', and Mr Quinlan in the American horror series '' T ...

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little Britain'' (2003–2006, 2020) and '' Come Fl ...

Shaun Parkes Shaun Parkes (born 9 February 1973) is an English actor. Biography At 16, Parkes enrolled at Seltec College to study drama. Two years later, he was accepted into RADA. Having acted in both theatre and television support roles, Parkes made his ...

, Nina Sosanya and Laura Fraser are also featured.

Cast

** John Sandilands as 5-year-old Giacomo Casanova ** Zachary Fox as 11-year-old Giacomo Casanova *

as Old Giacomo Casanova * Tom Burke as 20-year-old Giac Casanova ** James Holly as 6-year-old Giac Casanova ** Brock Everitt Elwick as 11-year-old Giac Casanova * Laura Fraser as Henriette *

as Grimani * Nina Sosanya as Bellino *

as Rocco *

as Edith *

Freddie Jones Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for a ...

as Bragadin Comedians

Mark Heap Mark Heap (born 13 May 1957) is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his roles in television comedies, including, ''Brass Eye'', ''Big Train'', ''Spaced'', ''Jam'', ''Green Wing'', ''Friday Night Dinner'', ''Upstart Crow'' and ''Beni ...

, Simon Day and Matthew Holness make

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

Episodes

Production

The series was originally commissioned from Davies by Executive Producer

Julie Gardner Julie Ann Gardner (born 4 June 1969) is a Welsh television producer. Her most prominent work has been serving as executive producer on the 2005 revival of '' Doctor Who'' and its spin-off shows '' Torchwood'' and '' The Sarah Jane Adventures' ...

when she was working at Granada-owned

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 ...

. However, after Gardner moved on to become Head of Drama at

in 2003, she commissioned Davies to write the drama for the BBC instead, as part of the deal that also saw him installed as the chief writer and Executive Producer of '' Doctor Who'' (in which Tennant later played the Doctor's tenth incarnation), also being overseen by Gardner and made at

. It was Tennant's role as Giacomo that led to Davies casting him in ''Doctor Who'' as the

Tenth Doctor The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the main protagonist of the BBC science fiction television franchise '' Doctor Who''. He is played by David Tennant in three series as well as nine specials. As with previous incarnations of ...

. It was aired in the United States in two parts, 8 and 15 October 2006, with the full unedited British version released on DVD the following week, 17 October 2006. The programme also aired in Australia on the ABC, again edited into two parts.

Home media

The serial was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

in the UK in May 2005, and in the United States in October 2006.

References

External links

''Casanova''
at the

website.
''Casanova''
at the ''

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 ...

'' website. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Casanova (2005 Tv Serial) 2000s British drama television series 2005 British television series debuts 2005 British television series endings BBC television dramas 2000s British television miniseries BBC Cymru Wales television shows Cultural depictions of Giacomo Casanova Television shows written by Russell T Davies Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Red Production Company Television shows produced by Granada Television English-language television shows Television series created by Russell T Davies Nonlinear narrative television series