Byron (2003)

Following the success of his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Byron becomes the toast of London.

Director:

Julian Farino

Writer:

Nick Dear

Stars:

Stephen Campbell Moore, Oliver Milburn, Michael Elwyn

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stephen Campbell Moore	...	John Cam Hobhouse
Oliver Milburn	...	Scrope Davies
Michael Elwyn	...	John Murray
Jonny Lee Miller	...	Lord Byron
Philip Glenister	...	William Fletcher
Samir Hassan	...	Loukas
George Georgiou	...	Turkish Captain
Irena Micijevic	...	Beautiful Turkish Woman (as Irena Micijevic Rodic)
Stanley Townsend	...	Turkish Governor
Tracey Murphy	...	Bessy
Kate Loustau	...	Susan
James Daley	...	Page Boy
Crispin Redman	...	Dandy in Salon
John Hart Dyke	...	Hollands' Butler
Jane How	...	Lady Holland

Storyline

Following the success of his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Byron becomes the toast of London.

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Plot Keywords:

cricket the sport | glass | flower | toasting | bathing someone | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

BBC [UK]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lordos Vyron

Filming Locations:

Malta

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Drama Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

147 min (2 parts)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The aqua pelisse worn by Julie Cox (Annabella Milbanke) at the London party where she meets Byron is the same costume Emilia Fox (Georgiana Darcy) wears at Ramsgate in Pride and Prejudice (1995); Emilia Fox wears the cosume again in David Copperfield (1999), and it is also worn by Olivia Williams (Jane Fairfax) at Box Hill in Emma (1996), and Anna Madeley (Lucy Steele) at Fanny's London house in Sense & Sensibility (2008).

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Goofs

Half way through the first episode there is a long distance shot of the coach and horses coming down a hill. To the left of the road, at the top of the hill is a pile of about 20 black plastic wrapped silage bales.

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Quotes

Annabella Milbanke: What did you mean when you said you've done evil?
Lord Byron: Nothing, I was bored.

User Reviews

The only real reason we know we're alive

In the end how do you judge a man like George Gordon Byron? He certainly left a nice body of work to judge him as writer and poet. It might have been more had he spent a little more time at creation and less indulging every kind of vice there was. As he puts it so accurately pleasure is the only real reason we know we're alive.

This film covers the period of 1812 to 1824 from the publication of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage until his death. He's quite the toast of Regency London and he's welcome by dint of his work and title in the best of homes. He soon wears out that welcome in a series of scandalous affairs. Regency society didn't mind affairs, but just be discreet. Discreet did not exist in his vocabulary.

Byron's personal life is probably best known for his affair with Lady Caroline Lamb. But this film shows she's only one of many. Camilla Power plays her and Power is in the film long enough to show what a mad woman she was. A little too much for a lover and a husband to handle.

I can't think of anything Byron missed. He made it with any woman who showed the slightest interest, even a little incest with a sister. He indulged himself in the love that dares not speak its name with a young boy. He drank to excess, took opiates at a rate that his contemporary Coleridge might have envied. There's brief scene of him turtling down some Laudanum like it was a brewski.

I think he envied the Shelleys played here by Sally Hawkins and Oliver Dimsdale. Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley were his contemporaries and they seemed to find happiness that was unattainable for Byron.

Jonny Lee Miller plays the title role and makes Byron the last word in hedonism. He strikes just the right notes and pulls a lot of emotions from the viewer. You envy him and yet you're jealous of him. He's rich with a title which allows him to indulge. We'd all like to be him, but the business of day to day living leaves 95% of us with enough challenges for our lives.

This BBC production of Byron is both revealing and non-judgmental. It will give you a good understanding of the man who in many ways was the symbol of the romantic age.