FORTUNES OF WAR: DISC 1 (1987)

JAMES CELLAN JONES

Television Drama War Romance 1940s Empire Recommended

Cast

KENNETH BRANAGH EMMA THOMPSON RUPERT GRAVES ROBERT STEPHENS RONALD PICKUP VERNON DOBTCHEFF RONALD FRASER GREG HICKS

Plot

It's 1939 and professor Guy Pringle arrives in Romania with his new wife, Harriet, in reluctant tow. Soon Guy has thrown caution to the wind and is vocally expressing his distaste for fascism, much to Harriet's concern. Fortunes of War is truly epic, using the Pringles as lynch pin from which we observe the all consuming arrival of the Second World War as it cuts a brutal swath across Europe and North Africa. This adaptation of Olivia Manning's autobiographical novels is a beautifully performed and realised BBC drama.