Disraeli (TV serial)
Disraeli | |
---|---|
Screenplay by | David Butler |
Directed by | Claude Whatham |
Theme music composer | Wilfred Josephs |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Cecil Clarke |
Location(s) | England |
Editor(s) | Al Pigden |
Production company(s) | Associated Television |
Distributor | Granada Productions |
Release | |
Original network |
ITV (UK) PBS's Masterpiece Theatre (US) |
Original release |
5 September 1978 (UK) 1 June 1980 (US) |
Disraeli is a British four-part serial about the great statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Benjamin Disraeli. It was originally featured on British network ITV. With a screenplay by David Butler, it was produced by Cecil Clarke and directed by Claude Whatham. It focused on Disraeli's personal life as much as it did on his political persona spanning five decades of his life. Shot on site in England, it ended up with multiple Emmy nominations. It was broadcast in the US as part of Masterpiece Theatre in 1980. Distributed by Granada Productions, it is available in a 2-disc DVD set that runs 4 hours and 13 minutes.
Plot
The series starts with Disraeli already a young man, trying to make connections in high society and eventually run for office several times, unsuccessfully. Much of his personal life is covered, and his more successful involvement with politics starts in the second episode, which ends with his being sworn in as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The rest of the series chronicles his rise to power, the death of his wife and his two terms as prime minister.
Cast
- Ian McShane - as Benjamin Disraeli
- Mary Peach - as Mary Anne Disraeli
- Rosemary Leach - as Queen Victoria
- John Carlisle - as William Ewart Gladstone
- Jeremy Clyde - as John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland
- Brett Usher - as Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
- Brewster Mason - as Chancellor Bismarck
- Antony Brown - as Sir Robert Peel
- David de Keyser - as Lionel de Rothschild
- David Wood - as Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
- John Gregg - as Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
- Brendan Barry - as Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh
- Mark Dignam - as John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
- Patrick Drury - as Montagu Corry, 1st Baron Rowton
- Peter Hughes - as Philip Rose
- Leigh Lawson - as Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, Count D'Orsay
- Peter Miles - as Lord Henry Lennox
- David Riley - as George Smythe, 7th Viscount Strangford
- Anton Rodgers - as Lord George Bentinck
- William Russell - as Wyndham Lewis
- Maria Charles - as Maria Disraeli (wife of Isaac Disraeli and mother of Benjamin Disraeli)
External links
- Disraeli at the Internet Movie Database