This historical serial from the BBC was an ambitious £600,000 adaptation (partially funded by the Time-Life company) of the Leo Tolstoy classic, presenting a tableau of Russian society during the turbulent era of the Napoleonic Wars (1805 – 1820).
Three years in preparation and one year in the making, the epic story followed the crafty Napoleon, swollen with victories over most of Europe, as he marched east against a Russian army he considered inferior to his own hardened troops.
It also followed the carefree Rostov family, happily planning successful marriages for their children and a long and loving old age.
Within a seven-year war period from 1805 to 1812, the Rostovs, their friends, and all of Russia meet the greatest tests that can be thrown at human beings. Some survive, and some are defeated.
Throughout this traumatic time, the lovely heroine, Natasha Rostova (Morag Hood), grows from a spoiled, precocious child into a strong Russian woman, capable of enduring every calamity with hard-won determination.
Anthony Hopkins was perfectly cast as Pierre Bezukhov (pictured above), the dissipated young man from a life of debauchery who was destined to become a societally committed family man.
Originally broadcast on BBC2 in the UK as 20 x 45-minute episodes, the series was aired by PBS in the US as 2 x two-hour episodes and seven x 90-minute episodes.
The production spent three months filming in Yugoslavia using a team of 200 actors, 120 English film crew and a Yugoslavian film crew of 80. 1,000 members of the Yugoslav Territorial Army were used as extras for location battle scenes.
Pierre Bezukhov
Anthony Hopkins Natasha Rostova
Morag Hood Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
Alan Dobie Count Rostov
Rupert Davies Sonya
Joanna David Countess Rostova
Faith Brook Princess Maria Bolkonskya
Angela Down Nikolai Rostov
Sylvester Morand Napoleon
David Swift Hélène Kuragina
Fiona Gaunt Mikhail Kutuzov
Frank Middlemass Prince Bolkonsky
Anthony Jacobs Boris Drubetskoy
Neil Stacy Princess Drubetskoya
Anne Blake Denisov
Gary Watson Amelie Bourienne
Athene Fielding Tsar Alexander I
Donald Douglas Dolohov
Donald Burton Petya Rostov
Rufus Frampton Marshal Davout
Tony Steedman
Episodes
Name Day | Sounds of War | Skirmish at Schongraben | A Letter and Two Proposals | Austerlitz | Reunions | New Beginnings | A Beautiful Tale | Leave of Absence | Madness | Men of Destiny | Fortunes of War | Borodino | Escape | Moscow! | Two Meetings | Of Life and Death | The Retreat | The Road to Life | An Epilogue
Video
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Pierre Bezukhov
Countess Rostova
Princess Drubetskoya
