This four-part BBC dramatisation of the last novel written by Leo Tolstoy starred Alan Dobie as a Russian nobleman named Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhlyudov, seeking redemption for a sin committed years earlier.
As a younger man at his aunt’s estate, he meets her young goddaughter, Katerina Maslova (Bridget Turner), and they fall in love. But after going to the city and becoming corrupted by drink and gambling, he returns two years later and sexually assaults Katerina – now 16 years old – and leaves her pregnant.
She is then thrown out by his Aunt and proceeds to face a series of unfortunate and unpleasant events before she ends up working as a prostitute, going by her surname, Maslova.
Ten years later, by pure chance, Dmitri sits on a jury in a trial that tries Maslova for murder (poisoning a client who beat her).
Even though she is innocent, she is sentenced to ten years of hard labour in penal servitude in Siberia.
Dmitri is filled with remorse and starts an appeal on her behalf. When that fails, he gives up his property to his peasants and follows her into exile.
On their long journey into Siberia, he meets other prisoners and hears their stories of injustice, abuse and mistreatment and becomes aware of the world of cruelty, injustice and suffering for the first time.
Anxious to atone, Dmitri proposes marriage to Katerina, but she refuses him.
She eventually falls in love with another man, and Dmitri gives his blessing, still choosing to live as part of the penal community and seeking personal redemption.
Prince Dmitri Nekhlyudov
Alan Dobie Katerina Maslova
Bridget Turner Agrafena
Eithne Dunne Maslennikov
John Stratton Natasha
Thelma Whiteley Simonson
Robert Morris Fanarin
John Bryans Prison wardress
Gillian Martell Head warder
Carlos Douglas Corporal
Stanley McGeagh Princess Sophia
Constance Lorne Kriltsov
Brian Murphy Mariette
Hildegard Neil Gerasimov
John Ringham Ivanov
A.J. Brown Baklashov
Gertan Klauber Court secretary
Kenneth Ives 3rd Judge
Roger Booth Wolf
Arthur Pentelow Court usher
John Tordoff 2nd Judge
David Nettheim Prosecutor
David Webb President
Clifford Parrish Kartinkin
Hugh Martin Kornei
John Caesar Nikiforov
Clive Cazes Missy
Pamela Ruddock Timoshkin
Walter Horsbrugh Fedosya
Athene Fielding Marya
Fiona Duncan Vera
Mitzi McKenzie Bochkova
Nancy Gabrielle Korableva
Barbara Couper Schoenbock
Michael McGovern
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As a younger man at his aunt’s estate, he meets her young goddaughter, Katerina Maslova (Bridget Turner), and they fall in love. But after going to the city and becoming corrupted by drink and gambling, he returns two years later and sexually assaults Katerina – now 16 years old – and leaves her pregnant.
Dmitri is filled with remorse and starts an appeal on her behalf. When that fails, he gives up his property to his peasants and follows her into exile.
