''The Shell Seekers'' (german: Die Muschelsucher) is a 2006
mini-series
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
starring
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winners,
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two ...
and
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was an Austrian-born Swiss actor, who also wrote, directed and produced some of his own films. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1961 American film ''Judgment at Nuremberg'', h ...
. The British-German co-production was directed by
Piers Haggard
Piers Inigo Haggard, OBE (born 18 March 1939), is a British theatre, film and television director, although he has worked mostly in the latter.
Haggard was born in London but grew up on a small farm in Clackmannanshire. He is the great-great-n ...
. It is an adaptation of
Rosamunde Pilcher
Rosamunde Pilcher, OBE (''née'' Scott; 22 September 1924 – 6 February 2019) was a British writer of romance novels, mainstream fiction, and short stories, from 1949 until her retirement in 2000. Her novels sold over 60 million copies worldw ...
's 1987
novel of the same name and premiered on Germany's
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
on 25 December 2006. It was screened in the United States on the
Hallmark Channel on 3 May 2008.
[
]
Plot
Set in the 1980s, Penelope (Redgrave) is seen to be recovering from a heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn she is the daughter of Lawrence (Schell), an acclaimed painter. Her children attempt to convince her to sell her father's paintings and ease their financial burdens. As Penelope continues to recover she reflects on her life, as a disillusioned wife and briefly enthralled lover. She embarks on a trip to the Mediterranean where she encounters Antonia (Stumph), whom she meets up with later on in the book, who becomes a woman in the grip of a passionate romance, something Penelope realises she briefly enjoyed.[The Shell Seekers Review]
Variety. 29 April 2008
Cast
*Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two ...
as Penelope Keeling
*Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was an Austrian-born Swiss actor, who also wrote, directed and produced some of his own films. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1961 American film ''Judgment at Nuremberg'', h ...
as Lawrence Sterne
*Sebastian Koch
Sebastian Koch (born 31 May 1962) is a German television and film actor. He is known for roles in the 2007 Academy Award-winning film ''The Lives of Others'', in Steven Spielberg's '' Bridge of Spies'', and as Otto Düring in the fifth season of ...
as Cosmo König
*Victoria Hamilton
Victoria Hamilton (born 5 April 1971) is an English actress.
After training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Hamilton began her career in classical theatre, appearing in productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the ...
as Nancy Chamberlaine
*Stephanie Stumph
Stephanie Stumph (born 7 July 1984 in Dresden) is a German people, German actress. She is the daughter of actor Wolfgang Stumph.
Personal life
Stumph was born as the daughter of Wolfgang Stumph, Wolfgang and Christine Stumph on 7 July 1984. Durin ...
as Antonia König
* Victoria Smurfit as Olivia Keeling
* Charles Edwards as Noel Keeling
* Alastair Mackenzie as Richard
* Prunella Scales as Dolly Keeling
* Richard Hope as George Chamberlaine
*Toby Fisher
Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...
as Ambrose Keeling
*Cherith Mellor as Mrs. Plackett
*Hugh Sachs as Roy Brookner
Production
The mini-series was shot in 2005 in a range of locations such as Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and Wales.[
]
Reception
'' Variety'' made comparisons between the series and Redgrave's 2007 film, '' Atonement''. The magazine praised her casting, as Redgrave "delivers a fine, flinty performance". It concluded that "the melancholy ending caps it with a satisfying exclamation point."[
Redgrave was awarded Best Actress in a Television Film at the Shanghai International TV Festival.Awards for The Shell Seekers]
IMDB. Retrieved on 3 September 2010
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shell Seekers
2006 films
2006 television films
2006 drama films
German drama films
German television films
2000s British television miniseries
2000s German television miniseries
2000s English-language films
English-language German films
2000s German-language films
English-language television shows
German-language television shows
Films set in the 1980s
Films shot in London
Films shot in Wales
Films based on British novels
Television shows based on British novels
ZDF original programming
2000s British films
2000s German films
British drama television films