"Vanity Fair" (1998)TV mini-series

Director:

Marc Munden

Writers:

Andrew Davies (writer)
William Makepeace Thackeray (novel)
(more)

Release Date:

24 October 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Aunt | Social Class | Boarding School | Country Life | Manipulation

Awards:

5 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Danielle Hawley	...	Little Becky Sharp
Paul Brightwell	...	Sharp
Natasha Little	...	Becky Sharp
Sara Powell	...	Miss Swartz
Frances Grey	...	Amelia Sedley
Pat Keen	...	Miss Pinkerton
Charlotte West-Oram	...	Jemima Pinkerton
Felix Dexter	...	Samuel
Michele Dotrice	...	Mrs Sedley
Carol Ann Crawford	...	Mrs Blenkinsop
Dean Bardini	...	Sedley's Footman
Jeremy Swift	...	Jos Sedley
David Ross	...	Mr Sedley
Tom Ward	...	George Osborne
Philip Glenister	...	William Dobbin
David Bradley	...	Sir Pitt Crawley
Patsy Rowlands	...	Mrs Tinker
Stephen Frost	...	Bute Crawley
Janine Duvitski	...	Mrs Bute Crawley
John Surman	...	Horrocks
Joanna Scanlan	...	Lady Crawley
Casey O'Connor	...	Little Violet
Zoe Chester	...	Little Rose
Anton Lesser	...	Mr Pitt Crawley
Miriam Margolyes	...	Miss Crawley
Nathaniel Parker	...	Rawdon Crawley
Daniel Hart	...	Ensign Stubble
Martin Hodgson	...	Ensign Spooney
Paddy Ward	...	Colonel Heavytop
Martin Wimbush	...	Jewellery Proprietor
Abigail Thaw	...	Jane Osborne
Tim Woodward	...	Mr. John Osborne
Janet Dale	...	Miss Briggs
Bryan Pringle	...	Raggles
Bill Thomas	...	Mr. Chopper
John Dallimore	...	Mr. Quill
Jeff Nuttall	...	Auctioneer
Linal Haft	...	Moss
Aedin Moloney	...	Molly
John Bett	...	Dr. Clump
Peter Kelly	...	Dr. Squills
John Leeson	...	Priest
Paul Bigley	...	Isidor
Frances Tomelty	...	Mrs. O'Dowd
Mark Lambert	...	Major O'Dowd
Mark Lewis	...	Captain Magenis
Jane Bertish	...	Mrs. Magenis
Eleanor Bron	...	Lady Bareacres
Sarah Crowden	...	Lady Blanche
Graham Crowden	...	Lord Bareacres
Windsor Davies	...	General Tufto
Sarah Ford	...	La Bonne
Angela Curran	...	Lady Bareacres' Maid
Caroline Olsson	...	French Maid
JB Blanc	...	Hussar (as Jean-Benoit Blanc)
Sylvestra Le Touzel	...	Lady Jane Crawley
Vicki Pepperdine	...	Ann Dobbin
Gerard Murphy	...	Lord Steyne
Crispin Letts	...	Fitzpugh
Hugh Simon	...	Firebrace
Robert Cole	...	Little Rawdon
Zohren Weiss	...	Little Georgey
Nick Dunning	...	Wenham
Pom Boyd	...	Glorvina O'Dowd
Roger Ashton-Griffiths	...	King George IV
Sian Thomas	...	Lady Steyne
Maurice Roëves	...	Captain MacMurdo
Rupert Vansittart	...	Smith
Mike Burnside	...	Brown
Richard Braine	...	Reverend Binney
Karl Johnson	...	Major Loder
Anthony Donovan	...	Baths Attendant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Cole	...	Little Rawdon
Caroline Lena Olsson	...	French Maid

Directed by
Marc Munden

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Andrew Davies		writer
William Makepeace Thackeray		novel
William Makepeace Thackeray		story

Produced by
Delia Fine	....	executive producer: A&E Network
Suzan Harrison	....	executive producer
Gillian McNeill	....	producer
Nigel Taylor	....	associate producer
Michael Wearing	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Murray Gold

Cinematography by
Oliver Curtis

Film Editing by
William Diver		(as Bill Diver)

Casting by
Jill Trevellick

Production Design by
Malcolm Thornton

Art Direction by
Stevie Herbert

Costume Design by
Rosalind Ebbutt

Makeup Department
Christine Walmesley-Cotham	....	hair designer
Christine Walmesley-Cotham	....	makeup designer

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Raoul Bolognini	....	third assistant director
Richard Burrell	....	first assistant director
Colin Wratten	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Gill Farr	....	production buyer

Sound Department
Tim Alban	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jens Christensen	....	adr recordist
Felicity Cottrell	....	foley artist
Paul Davies	....	supervising sound editor
Bernard O'Reilly	....	dialogue editor
Sandra Roth	....	foley editor
Jack Stew	....	foley artist
Bruce Wills	....	sound mixer

Stunts
Rowley Irlam	....	stunt double
Stuart St. Paul	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Terry Hunt	....	gaffer
Tim Potter	....	focus puller
Hilda Sealy	....	clapper loader

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lee Clayton	....	costume cutter
Lee Clayton	....	tailor
Amanda Keable	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Chris Reynolds	....	on-line editor

Music Department
Steve Parr	....	music mixer
Steve Parr	....	music recordist
Steve Parr	....	score recordist

Other crew
Simon Bird	....	location manager
Charles Bodycomb	....	armorer
Emma Pill	....	location manager

Production Companies

• A&E Television Networks
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Distributors

• A&E Television Networks (USA)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Other Companies

• ARRI Lighting Rental  lighting equipment
• Wood Hall Catering  catering

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 green striped gown with velvet Spencer jacket Vicki Pepperdine (Ann Dobbin) wears in the park is the same costume previously worn by Anna Chancellor (Caroline Bingley) at Netherfield Hall in _"Pride and Prejudice" (1995) (mini)_ .

Quotes:

Becky Sharp: Revenge may be wicked. But it's natural.

Movie Connections:

Version of Vanity Fair (2004)

Soundtrack:

When I Am Laid In Earth

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.