''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

as Penelope Keeling *

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