''Vanity Fair'' is a

BBC television drama BBC television dramas have been produced and broadcast since even before the public service company had an officially established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. As with any major broadcast network, drama forms an importan ...

serial

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

's 1848 novel of the same name broadcast in 1967. It was the first drama serial in colour produced by the BBC. ''Vanity Fair'' starred

Susan Hampshire Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, (born 12 May 1937) is an English actress known for her many television and film roles. A three-time Emmy Award winner, she won for '' The Forsyte Saga'' in 1970, ''The First Churchills'' in 1969, and for ''Vani ...

Becky Sharp Rebecca "Becky" Sharp, later describing herself as Rebecca, Lady Crawley, is the main protagonist of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847–48 novel ''Vanity Fair''. She is presented as a cynical social climber who uses her charms to fascinate an ...

. The serial was also broadcast in 1972 in the US on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

television as part of ''

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 ...

'', and Hampshire received an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for her portrayal in 1973. This was the second of four television adaptations of ''Vanity Fair'' produced by the BBC; other serials had been transmitted in 1956/57, in 1987, and in 1998.

Plot summary

For a full length summary of the book, see: ''Vanity Fair'' plot summary.

Episodes

Cast

as Becky Sharp *

Dyson Lovell Dyson Lovell (born 28 August 1936) is a British film producer and actor. He produced amongst others, Franco Zeffirelli's ''Hamlet'', starring Mel Gibson (1990), and Francis Ford Coppola's 1984 box-office flop '' The Cotton Club'', starring Richard ...

as Rawdon Crawley * Bryan Marshall as Captain Dobbin * Marilyn Taylerson as Amelia Osborne *

Roy Marsden Roy Marsden (born Roy Anthony Mould; 25 June 1941) is an English actor who portrayed Adam Dalgliesh in the Anglia Television dramatisations (1983–1998) of P. D. James's detective novels, and Neil Burnside in the spy drama ''The Sandbagg ...

as George Osborne * John Moffatt as Jos Sedley *

Barbara Couper Barbara Couper (1903–1992) was a British stage, film and television actress. She made her stage debut in 1925 and played leading roles at Stratford in the 1930s. Her screen work included several films and much television. Selected filmography ...

as Miss Matilda Crawley * Barbara Leake as Mrs. Sedley * Michael Rothwell as Pitt Crawley *

Deddie Davies Deddie Davies (born Gillian Nancy Davies, 2 March 1938 – 21 December 2016) was a Welsh people, Welsh character actress. Biography Davies was born in Bridgend, Wales. She trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, RADA and is most familiar to ...

as Lady Crawley * Howard Taylor as Horrocks * John Welsh as Sir Pitt Crawley * Mark Allington as Ensign Stubble *

Thelma Barlow Thelma Barlow (''née'' Pigott; born 19 June 1929) is an English television actress and writer, known for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'' and as Dolly Bellfield in the BBC One sitcom '' di ...

as Miss Briggs *

Richard Caldicot Richard Caldicot (7 October 1908 – 16 October 1995) was an English actor famed for his role of Commander (later Captain) Povey in the BBC radio series ''The Navy Lark''. He also appeared often on television, memorably as the obstetrician del ...

as Mr. Osborne *

Robert Flemyng Benjamin Arthur Flemyng (3 January 1912 – 22 May 1995), known professionally as Robert Flemyng, was a British actor. The son of a doctor, and originally intended for a medical career, Flemyng learned his stagecraft in provincial repertory th ...

as Lord Steyne

Awards

*1973:

- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Drama/Comedy - Limited Episodes) -

DVD

This adaptation is now available on DVD, distributed by Acorn Media UK.

References

External links

Review
* 1960s British drama television series BBC television dramas Television shows based on British novels English-language television shows Films based on Vanity Fair (novel) {{UK-tv-prog-stub