"Vanity Fair" (1998) TV mini-series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

24 October 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Rags To Riches | Costume Drama | Money | Boarding School | Unrequited Love

Awards:

5 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Natasha Little	...	Becky Sharp (6 episodes, 1998)
Frances Grey	...	Amelia Sedley (6 episodes, 1998)
David Ross	...	Mr. Sedley / ... (6 episodes, 1998)
Philip Glenister	...	William Dobbin (6 episodes, 1998)
Michele Dotrice	...	Mrs. Sedley (5 episodes, 1998)
Janine Duvitski	...	Mrs. Bute Crawley (5 episodes, 1998)
Anton Lesser	...	Mr. Pitt Crawley (5 episodes, 1998)
Nathaniel Parker	...	Rawdon Crawley (5 episodes, 1998)
Jeremy Swift	...	Jos Sedley (4 episodes, 1998)
Tom Ward	...	George Osborne (4 episodes, 1998)
Stephen Frost	...	Bute Crawley (4 episodes, 1998)
Tim Woodward	...	Mr. John Osborne (4 episodes, 1998)
Janet Dale	...	Miss Briggs (4 episodes, 1998)
Frances Tomelty	...	Mrs. O'Dowd (4 episodes, 1998)
Mark Lambert	...	Major O'Dowd (4 episodes, 1998)
David Bradley	...	Sir Pitt Crawley (3 episodes, 1998)
John Surman	...	Horrocks (3 episodes, 1998)
Miriam Margolyes	...	Miss Crawley (3 episodes, 1998)
Daniel Hart	...	Ensign Stubble (3 episodes, 1998)
Abigail Thaw	...	Jane Osborne (3 episodes, 1998)
Bryan Pringle	...	Raggles (3 episodes, 1998)
Linal Haft	...	Moss (3 episodes, 1998)
Eleanor Bron	...	Lady Bareacres (3 episodes, 1998)
Sarah Crowden	...	Lady Blanche (3 episodes, 1998)
Graham Crowden	...	Lord Bareacres (3 episodes, 1998)
Sylvestra Le Touzel	...	Lady Jane Crawley (3 episodes, 1998)
Gerard Murphy	...	Lord Steyne (3 episodes, 1998)
Robert Cole	...	Little Rawdon (3 episodes, 1998)
Zohren Weiss	...	Little Georgey (3 episodes, 1998)

Runtime:

50 min (6 episodes)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:PG | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK

Company:

A&E Television Networks

Trivia:

The black patterned muslin gown Janet Dale (Miss Briggs) wears at Park Lane is the same gown Pauline Moran (Mrs. Curtain) wears when Byron arrives for the wedding in Byron (2003) (TV), Gemma Jones (Mrs. Dashwood) wears when Edward comes to Barton Cottage in Sense and Sensibility (1995), Billie Piper (Fanny Price) wears to Maria's wedding in Mansfield Park (2007) (TV). The costume is also worn by an extra at the Meryton Assembly Ball in Pride & Prejudice (2005).

Quotes:

Becky Sharp: I am innocent. Before God, Rawdon, I AM innocent! Tell him I'm innocent!

Movie Connections:

Version of Vanity Fair (1932/I)

Soundtrack:

The Last Rose of Summer

Brilliant portrayal of a psychopath

There has been a ridiculous number of movies about psychopathic killers - Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, Copycat, The Cell, etc, etc - and yet for a realistic depiction of a psychopath, this mini-series leaves them all far behind. If you want to see what the average psychopath is like (or perhaps I should say above average, because there is nothing average about Becky Sharp), this is far more true to life than all the others. The reality is that for every Hannibal Lecter in the world, there are a thousand Becky Sharps, and together they do far more damage than all the serial killers. I can only think that Thackeray must have known someone like her, because you can't get this close to reality by sheer imagination, and I don't know of any literary examples he could have copied from.

Of course, the novel, and the series, are about far more than one character - they are in fact about Vanity Fair, the world that Thackerary knew and didn't particularly love, the society which was so warped and hypocritical (rather like ours today, in fact) that it allowed characters like Becky Sharp to prosper.

This is not nearly as pleasant as the usual BBC mini-series, but it is compulsively watchable; the depiction is almost flawless and Natasha Little does a brilliant job portraying the woman we love to hate. The rest of the cast is also excellent, including Nathaniel Parker as Rawdon, the principal victim of his wife's intrigues, Philip Glenister as the lovable but awfully clumsy Dobbin and David Bradley as the appalling baronet Sir Pitt Crawley.