Vanity Fair (1967 TV serial)

Vanity Fair
DVD cover
Based on	Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Screenplay by	Rex Tucker
Directed by	David Giles
Starring	Susan Hampshire
Music by	Douglas Gamley (unknown episodes)
Original language	English
Production
Producer	David Conroy
Running time	5x1 hour
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	2 December (1967-12-02) – 30 December 1967 (1967-12-30)

Vanity Fair is a BBC television drama serial adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name broadcast in 1967.^[1] It was the first drama serial in colour produced by the BBC.^[2] Vanity Fair starred Susan Hampshire as Becky Sharp.^[3] The serial was also broadcast in 1972 in the US on PBS television as part of Masterpiece Theatre, and Hampshire received an Emmy Award for her portrayal in 1973.^[4]

This was the second of four television adaptations of Vanity Fair produced by the BBC; other serials had been transmitted in 1956/57, in 1987, and in 1998.^[5]

Plot summary

For a full length summary of the book, see: Vanity Fair plot summary.

Episodes

Episode	Title	Run Time	BBC Air Date	US Air Date
Part One	The Famous Little Becky Puppet	41:11	2 Dec 1967	1 Oct 1972
Part Two	The Dragoon	44:05	9 Dec 1967	8 Oct 1972
Part Three	The Celebrated Battle Scene	44:15	16 Dec 1967	15 Oct 1972
Part Four	The Wicked Nobleman	44:31	23 Dec 1967	22 Oct 1972
Part Five	Vanitas Vanitatum	44:19	30 Dec 1967	29 Oct 1972

Cast

• Susan Hampshire as Becky Sharp
• Dyson Lovell as Rawdon Crawley
• Bryan Marshall as Captain Dobbin
• Marilyn Taylerson as Amelia Osborne
• Roy Marsden as George Osborne
• John Moffatt as Jos Sedley
• Barbara Couper as Miss Matilda Crawley
• Barbara Leake as Mrs. Sedley
• Michael Rothwell as Pitt Crawley
• Deddie Davies as Lady Crawley
• Howard Taylor as Horrocks
• John Welsh as Sir Pitt Crawley
• Mark Allington as Ensign Stubble
• Thelma Barlow as Miss Briggs
• Richard Caldicot as Mr. Osborne
• Robert Flemyng as Lord Steyne

Awards

• 1973: Emmy Award - Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Drama/Comedy - Limited Episodes) - Susan Hampshire.^[4]

DVD

This adaptation is now available on DVD, distributed by Acorn Media UK.^[6]

References

1. "Vanity Fair: Part 1: The Famous Little Becky Puppet". 2 December 1967. p. 9 – via BBC Genome.
2. "BFI Screenonline: TV Literary Adaptation". www.screenonline.org.uk.
3. "Vanity Fair Part 4 The Wicked Nobleman (1967)". BFI. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020.
4. "Susan Hampshire". Television Academy.
5. "William Makepeace Thackeray". BFI. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016.
6. "Vanity Fair (1967) · British Universities Film & Video Council". bufvc.ac.uk.

External links

• Review
• Vanity Fair at IMDb