"Tom Brown's Schooldays" (1971) TV series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

14 January 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Family

Plot Keywords:

Bully | Bully Comeuppance | Elementary School | Coming Of Age | Midlands

Awards:

Won 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Iain Cuthbertson	...	Thomas Arnold (5 episodes, 1971)
Simon Fisher-Turner	...	Ned East (5 episodes, 1971)
Richard Morant	...	Flashman (5 episodes, 1971)
Anthony Murphy	...	Tom Brown (5 episodes, 1971)
Richard Gibson	...	Sunning (4 episodes, 1971)
David Hampshire	...	Diggs (4 episodes, 1971)
Christopher Moran	...	Coates (4 episodes, 1971)
Mark Rogers	...	Cuthbertson (4 episodes, 1971)
Barry Stokes	...	Brooke (4 episodes, 1971)
Sean Bury	...	Denning (3 episodes, 1971)
Simon Conrad	...	Willoughby (3 episodes, 1971)
Geoffrey Edwards	...	Reverend Bird (3 episodes, 1971)
Gerald Flood	...	Sir Richard Flashman (3 episodes, 1971)
Christopher Guard	...	Darcy (3 episodes, 1971)
Davyd Harries	...	Reverend Anstey (3 episodes, 1971)
Valerie Holliman	...	Rosy Redman (3 episodes, 1971)
Mark Jefferis	...	Harker (3 episodes, 1971)
Robin Langford	...	Martin (3 episodes, 1971)
Dan Meaden	...	Cully Redman (3 episodes, 1971)
Edward Palmer	...	Thomas (3 episodes, 1971)

Runtime:

225 min (5 Episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Movie Connections:

Version of Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951)

well-done bbc mini-series; superior to 1940 film.

This version, which showed in the US as a "Masterpiece Theatre" program, is a good deal more true to the original novel than the 1940 Hollywood attempt with Jimmy Lydon. It is also much less full of treacle. Young Anthony Murphy is an open-faced, earnest Tom, and Richard Morant is very convincing as blackguard-in- training Flashman. While it's not up to the cinematic standard of the Gordon Parry film released in 1950 (with John Howard Davies as Tom), this version is well worth a viewing if you're any kind of fan of Hughes' book.