Shadowlands (1985 film) - Misplaced Pages

1985 television film

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Shadowlands
Genre	Biography Romance Drama
Created by	Norman Stone
Based on	C.S. Lewis Joy Davidman
Written by	William Nicholson
Directed by	Norman Stone
Starring	Joss Ackland Claire Bloom David Waller Rupert Baderman Rhys Hopkins
Theme music composer	Ken Howard
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Richard Lewis Daniel Wolf
Producer	David M. Thompson
Cinematography	Russ Walker
Editor	Chris Lawrence
Running time	92 minutes
Production company	British Broadcasting Corporation
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	June 15, 1985 (1985-06-15)
Related
Shadowlands (film) Shadowlands (play)

Shadowlands, also known as C.S. Lewis: Shadowlands and C.S. Lewis Through the Shadowlands, is a 1985 television film written by William Nicholson, directed by Norman Stone and produced by David M. Thompson for BBC Wales. The film is about the relationship between Oxford don and author C. S. Lewis and the American writer Joy Davidman. It stars Joss Ackland as Lewis, with Claire Bloom as his wife Joy Davidman.

Synopsis

Oxford professor, world-renowned writer and confirmed bachelor C.S. Lewis (Joss Ackland) finds himself famed and admired from the success of his recently published series of Narnia books for children. One day, Lewis receives a captivating letter from an American woman, New York divorcée: Joy Gresham (Claire Bloom). A mother of two boys, Gresham strikes up a correspondence with Lewis, who over time finds himself falling in love with the writer. Gresham moves to England with her two boys, Douglas and David (Rupert Baderman, Rhys Hopkins), and marries Lewis; who becomes their stepfather. All seems to be a perfect life and marriage for the happy family until Joy is suddenly struck down by cancer and dies. Devastated by this loss, Lewis struggles with his Christian beliefs and begins to challenge his own faith and relationship with God.

History

Shadowlands began life as a script entitled I Call it Joy written for Thames Television by Brian Sibley and Norman Stone. Sibley was credited on the BBC film as "consultant" and went on to write the book C.S. Lewis Through the Shadowlands: The Story of His Life with Joy Davidman (1994). The made-for-television film won BAFTA Awards in 1986 for Best Play and Best Actress (Bloom). Following their roles in Shadowlands, Ackland and Bloom went on to star opposite each other in several other films: Queenie (1987), Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1995) and Tales from the Madhouse (2000).

The original 1985 film ran for ninety-two minutes. An alternate version, C.S. Lewis: Shadowlands, was produced in 1994 for home video; it ran for seventy-three minutes, cutting several scenes and including on-screen titles. A DVD version released in 2013, C.S. Lewis Through the Shadowlands, restored the original ninety-minute runtime.

Screenwriter William Nicholson adapted a stage version of the 1985 television movie, which premiered at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth on October 5, 1989. The production later went on to the Queen's Theatre in London before transferring to Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on November 11, 1990 where it received a Tony Award at the 45th Tony Awards on June 2, 1991 for Best Actor (Nigel Hawthorne as Lewis).

The success of the stage play lead Nicholson to adapt it once again as a feature film starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger; it was released in 1993.

References

BAFTA. www.awards.bafta.org. Television in 1986. Claire Bloom: Shadowlands. Single Drama: Shadowlands.
Nicholson, William (1989). Shadowlands. New York: Samuel French, Inc. ISBN 9780573693137.
www.theatricalia.com. Shadowlands. Past Productions: 1989-2007.
www.thisistheatre.com. Shadowlands. January 6, 2020.

External links

Shadowlands 1985 television film at IMDb

v t e Works by William Nicholson
Novels	Wind on Fire The Wind Singer Slaves of the Mastery Firesong Noble Warriors Seeker Jango Noman The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life
Plays	Shadowlands The Retreat from Moscow
Films written and directed	Firelight Hope Gap
Films written only	Martin Luther, Heretic Shadowlands (1985) The March Shadowlands (1993) Nell First Knight Grey Owl Gladiator Elizabeth: The Golden Age Les Misérables Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Unbroken Everest Breathe Thirteen Lives

v t e International Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama
On Giant's Shoulders (1979) A Rod of Iron (1980) A Town Like Alice (1981) A Voyage Round My Father (1982) King Lear (1983) The Jewel in the Crown (1984) Das Boot (1985) Shadowlands (1986) Porterhouse Blue (1987) A Very British Coup (1988) Traffik (1989) First and Last (1990) The Black Velvet Gown (1991) A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992) Unnatural Pursuits (1993) The Bullion Boys (1994) The Politician's Wife (1995) La Colline aux Mille Enfants (1996) Crossing the Floor (1997) The Tattooed Widow (1998) Lost for Words (1999) All Stars (2000) Dirty Tricks (2001)

International Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama

On Giant's Shoulders (1979)
A Rod of Iron (1980)
A Town Like Alice (1981)
A Voyage Round My Father (1982)
King Lear (1983)
The Jewel in the Crown (1984)
Das Boot (1985)
Shadowlands (1986)
Porterhouse Blue (1987)
A Very British Coup (1988)
Traffik (1989)
First and Last (1990)
The Black Velvet Gown (1991)
A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992)
Unnatural Pursuits (1993)
The Bullion Boys (1994)
The Politician's Wife (1995)
La Colline aux Mille Enfants (1996)
Crossing the Floor (1997)
The Tattooed Widow (1998)
Lost for Words (1999)
All Stars (2000)
Dirty Tricks (2001)

C. S. Lewis

Bibliography

Poetry

Spirits in Bondage (1919)
"Reason" (c. 1925)
Dymer (1926)

Fiction

The Pilgrim's Regress (1933) The Screwtape Letters (1942) The Great Divorce (1945) Till We Have Faces (1956) "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" (1959) Letters to Malcolm (1964) Boxen (1985)
The Space Trilogy	Out of the Silent Planet (1938) Perelandra (1943) That Hideous Strength (1945) The Dark Tower (manuscript) (1977)
The Chronicles of Narnia	The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) Prince Caspian (1951) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) The Silver Chair (1953) The Horse and His Boy (1954) The Magician's Nephew (1955) The Last Battle (1956)

Non-fiction

The Allegory of Love (1936)
The Personal Heresy (1939)
The Problem of Pain (1940)
A Preface to Paradise Lost (1942)
The Abolition of Man (1943)
Miracles (1947)
The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (1949/1980)
Mere Christianity (1952)
Surprised by Joy (1955)
Reflections on the Psalms (1958)
The Four Loves (1960)
Studies in Words (1960)
The World's Last Night and Other Essays (1960)
An Experiment in Criticism (1961)
A Grief Observed (1961)
They Asked for a Paper (1962)
Selections from Layamon's Brut (1963)
Letters to Malcolm (1964)
The Discarded Image (1964)
Of Other Worlds (1966)
God in the Dock (1970–1971)

Joy Davidman (wife)
Douglas Gresham (stepson)
Warren Lewis (brother)
The Kilns
Lewis's trilemma
The Inklings
Language and Human Nature
CS Lewis Nature Reserve
Shadowlands (1985 film)
Shadowlands (1989 play)
Shadowlands (1993 film)
The Most Reluctant Convert (2021 film)
Freud's Last Session (2023 film)

Categories:

Synopsis

History

See also

References

External links