Vanity Fair (1987 TV serial)

Vanity Fair
BBC ad with Rebecca Saire
Based on	Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Screenplay by	Alexander Baron
Directed by	Diarmuid Lawrence Michael Owen Morris
Starring	Eve Matheson Rebecca Saire
Music by	Nigel Hess
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Terrance Dicks
Running time	35 min. (16 episodes)
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	6 September (1987-09-06) – 20 December 1987 (1987-12-20)

Vanity Fair is a 1987 BBC Pebble Mill Production consisting of sixteen 35 minute episodes.^[1][2] It is an adaptation of the 1848 novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.^[3] The serial was shot on location and in studio. Locations included Winchester and Thetford. Virtually all the interiors were shot in Studio A at Pebble Mill.

The series stars Eve Matheson as Becky Sharp, Rebecca Saire as Amelia Sedley, Simon Dormandy as William Dobbin, Jack Klaff as Rawdon Crawley, David Swift as Mr. Sedley, James Saxon as Joseph 'Jos' Sedley, Gillian Raine as Mrs. Sedley, Benedict Taylor as George Osborne, Shaughan Seymour as Pitt Crawley, Philippa Urquhart as Miss Briggs and Freddie Jones as Sir Pitt Crawley.^[4] Amanda Murray appeared as Ann Dobbin in three episodes.^[5]

The story is set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Becky Sharp, a poor orphan girl, schemes for money and position. Her most-used stepladder is her old school friend, Amelia Sedley. Both women marry soldiers, and both of them are affected by the Battle of Waterloo.

Episodes

Episode	Title	Air Date
1	Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley Open the Campaign	6 September 1987
2	Vauxhall Gardens	13 September 1987
3	Crawley of Queen's Crawley	20 September 1987
4	Arcadian Simplicity	20 September 1987
5	Who Played the Piano?	4 October 1987
6	A Marriage and Part of a Honeymoon	11 October 1987
7	Amelia Invades the Low Countries	18 October 1987
8	The Girl I Left Behind Me	25 October 1987
9	Widow and Brother	1 November 1987
10	How to Live Well on Nothing a Year	8 November 1987
11	Struggles and Trials	15 November 1987
12	The Very Best of Company	22 November 1987
13	A Vulgar Incident	29 November 1987
14	After the Battle	6 December 1987
15	Our Friend the Major	13 December 1987
16	Old Acquaintance	20 December 1987

References

1. "Vanity Fair Part 1 Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley Open the Campaign (1987)". BFI. Archived from the original on 24 April 2022.
2. "Vanity Fair". 20 September 1987. p. 39 – via BBC Genome.
3. "Vanity Fair (BBC 1987) forthcoming from Simply HE". 8 November 2014.
4. "Vanity Fair Part 11 Struggles and Trials (1987)". BFI. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021.
5. "Amanda Murray". BFI. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019.

External links

• Vanity Fair at IMDb
• Vanity Fair^{[dead link‍]} at British Film Institute