Vanity Fair (1987 TV serial)

Vanity Fair
BBC ad with Rebecca Saire
Based onVanity Fair
by William Makepeace Thackeray
Screenplay byAlexander Baron
Directed byDiarmuid Lawrence
Michael Owen Morris
StarringEve Matheson
Rebecca Saire
Music byNigel Hess
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerTerrance Dicks
Running time35 min. (16 episodes)
Original release
NetworkBBC
Release6 September (1987-09-06) –
20 December 1987 (1987-12-20)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Vanity Fair is a 1987 BBC Pebble Mill Production consisting of sixteen 35 minute episodes.[1][2] It is an adaptation of the 1848 novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.[3] The serial was shot on location and in studio. Locations included Winchester and Thetford. Virtually all the interiors were shot in Studio A at Pebble Mill.

The series stars Eve Matheson as Becky Sharp, Rebecca Saire as Amelia Sedley, Simon Dormandy as William Dobbin, Jack Klaff as Rawdon Crawley, David Swift as Mr. Sedley, James Saxon as Joseph 'Jos' Sedley, Gillian Raine as Mrs. Sedley, Benedict Taylor as George Osborne, Shaughan Seymour as Pitt Crawley, Philippa Urquhart as Miss Briggs and Freddie Jones as Sir Pitt Crawley.[4] Amanda Murray appeared as Ann Dobbin in three episodes.[5]

The story is set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Becky Sharp, a poor orphan girl, schemes for money and position. Her most-used stepladder is her old school friend, Amelia Sedley. Both women marry soldiers, and both of them are affected by the Battle of Waterloo.

  1. ^ "Vanity Fair Part 1 Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley Open the Campaign (1987)". BFI. Archived from the original on 24 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Vanity Fair". 20 September 1987. p. 39 – via BBC Genome.
  3. ^ "Vanity Fair (BBC 1987) forthcoming from Simply HE". 8 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Vanity Fair Part 11 Struggles and Trials (1987)". BFI. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Amanda Murray". BFI. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019.