Clementina

1 9 5 4 (UK)
6 x 30 minute episodes

This six-part BBC serial was adapted by film critic C. A. Lejeune from the novel by A.E.W. Mason.

Set in 1718, the House of Hanover has succeeded to the throne of England, and James Stewart (Michael Ashwin) – the “Old Pretender” to the English throne – is living in exile in Italy after the failure of the first Jacobite Rising.

He has not given up hope of a triumphant return to the land of his fathers to secure his claim to the throne, but these expeditions cost money. His counsellors have advised him to take a wealthy wife, and the choice has fallen upon the 16-year-old Princess Clementina Sobieski (Elizabeth Henson), daughter of the Prince of Poland (Beckett Bould) and reckoned to have one of the greatest fortunes in Europe.

Naturally, such a match would be opposed by the House of Hanover, so the notion is to bring Clementina quietly south to Bologna, for a private, very hush-hush marriage.

But the secret leaks out, and by the time the story of Clementina opens, the Princess and her mother have been stopped and imprisoned at Innsbruck on the orders of the Emperor of Austria, who has his own reasons for wanting to keep on good terms with the British throne.

At this point, a swashbuckling Irish soldier of fortune, loyal Jacobite and veteran campaigner named Charles Wogan (Patrick Troughton) suggests a plan for rescuing the Princess and bringing her to Bologna under the very noses of the enemy.

Clementina
Elizabeth Henson
Charles Wogan
Patrick Troughton
Dick Gaydon
Fred Johnson
Mrs Misset
Joyce Chancellor
Jack Misset
Desmond Jordan
James Stuart
Michael Ashwin
Lucius O’Toole
Michael O’Mahony
Maria Vittoria
Jill Balcon
Harry Whittington
Anthony Ireland
Cardinal
Henry Oscar
Chateaudoux
Bartlett Mullins
Prince of Baden
Richard Pearson
Jenny
Stella Brett
Count Otto von Ahlen
Arthur Wontner
Lady Featherstone
Joy Shelton
Sir John Hay
Raymond Francis
Prince of Poland
Beckett Bould
Countess de Bergh
Veronica Turleigh

Episodes

Episodes

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