| A Dance to the Music of Time | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Created by | |
| Based on | A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell |
| Screenplay by | Hugh Whitemore |
| Directed by | |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Hugh Whitemore |
| Producer | Alvin Rakoff |
| Running time | 416 minutes |
| Production company | Daisybeck |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | 9 October (1997-10-09) – 30 October 1997 (1997-10-30) |
A Dance to the Music of Time is a British four-part television drama series based on the book series of the same name by Anthony Powell. The series was also written by Anthony Powell with Hugh Whitemore as co-writer. The series was produced by Table Top Productions and directed by Christopher Morahan and Alvin Rakoff. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 9 October 1997 over four consecutive weeks.
Synopsis
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Several young men go through public school and university together, and maintain contact as they make their way in the world through the 1920s, the upheavals of the 1930s, the Second World War, and the post-war years of change in society. Many of the people they meet fall by the wayside, and their own fates are varied. The series attempts to chart the change in upper-middle-class society through their stories, and the realities of how the English social system worked.
Cast
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- Gillian Barge as Mrs. Erdleigh
- Nicholas Jones as Bob Duport
- Simon Russell Beale as Widmerpool
- Robin Bailey as Uncle Alfred
- Jonathan Cake as Peter Templer
- James Fleet as Moreland
- Richard Pasco as Sir Magnus Donners
- James Purefoy as Nicholas Jenkins
- Paul Rhys as Charles Stringham
- Annabel Mullion as Mona
- Claire Skinner as Jean
- Adrian Scarborough as JG Quiggin
- Grant Thatcher as Mark Members
- Sarah Badel as Lady Molly
- Alan Bennett as Sillery
- Emma Fielding as Isobel
- Oliver Ford Davies as Le Bas
- Edward Fox as Uncle Giles
- Anastasia Hille as Matilda
- Nigel Lindsay as Odo Stevens
- Miranda Richardson as Pamela Flitton
- Zoë Wanamaker as Audrey Maclintick
- Michael Williams as Ted Jeavons
- Geraldine Alexander as Susan
- Carmen Du Sautoy as Miss Weedon
- Nicholas Rowe as David Pennistone
- Barbara Durkin as Betty
- Andrew Havill as Sunny Farebrother
- Osmund Bullock as Erridge
- Caroline Harker as Priscilla
- Tony Osoba as Colonel Flores
- Bryan Pringle as Smith
- Eileen Atkins as Brightman
- Sean Baker as X Trapnel
- Paul Brooke as Maclintick
- James D'Arcy as Nicholas Jenkins when a student
- James Callis as Gwinnett
- Kevin Colson as Louis Glober
- Joanna David as older Isobel
- John Gielgud as St. John Clarke
- Patrick Godfrey as General Conyers
- Luke de Lacey as Stringham when a student
- Lucy Fleming as Jean
- Frank Middlemass as Edgar Deacon
- Christopher Lang as Chips Lovell
- Robert Lang as Leonard Short
- Emily Mortimer as Polly Duport
- Julian Wadham as General Liddament
- Sonia Ritter as Ada
- John Standing as older Nicholas Jenkins
- Nicola Walker as Gypsy Jones
- Kevin Harris as the son of Nicholas and Isobel Jenkins
Episodes
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Critical reception
The Thomas Sutcliffe of The Independent described the first episode in the series as "It's questionable whether any literary work can survive a compression as intense as that undergone by A Dance to the Music of Time" and went on to mention "For obvious reasons barely even a homeopathic trace of Powell's patrician ruminations remain - what has survived are the incidents upon which he strung his grand reflections."
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Actor | Simon Russell Beale | Won | |
| Best Actress | Miranda Richardson | Nominated | |||
| Royal Television Society Awards | Actor: Male | Simon Russell Beale | Won | ||
| Actor: Female | Miranda Richardson | Nominated |
References
- "A Dance to the Music of Time on ALL4". Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- "A Dance to the Music of Time - Full Cast & Crew". TV Guide. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- "TV REVIEW: A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME by Thomas Sutcliffe, 23 October 2011". The Independent. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
- "Royal Television Society - Programme". 24 September 2006. Archived from the original on 24 September 2006. Retrieved 11 March 2022.