Silverbridge (Anthony Andrews) and Frank Tregear (Jeremy Irons) are two best friends who make a trip to Venice in the mid-19th century. In Home and Abroad (1981) the same two actors play best friends, Sebastian Flyte and Charles Ryder, who make a trip to Venice in the 1920s.
Silverbridge announces at one point that he was "sent down from" (i.e. thrown out of) Oxford University. In Brideshead Revisited (1981) Anthony Andrews played Sebastian Flyte, who was also sent down from Oxford.