Anglo-Norse nobleman Hereward Leofricsson (Alfred Lynch) is a wildly undisciplined young roisterer who is the despair of his stern and upright father Earl Leofric (Tony Steedman), and even more so of his mother, the saintly Lady Godiva of Coventry (Dorothy Reynolds).
Edward the Confessor, the last of the Saxon kings, still rules in Westminster but he favours William of Normandy (John Carson) as his successor and Norman influence is already strong in England, especially in the church.
One day, a stiff Norman cleric (David Swift) falls foul of Hereward and his drunken housecarls, and this is the last straw: Hereward is made “Wolf’s Head” (outlaw) and so he becomes a roving fighter and berserker, leading a sustained and gallant resistance to William and his Norman followers.
Hereward’s attendant and friend, Martin Lightfoot – a slave with a mysteriously acquired store of education – was played by Bryan Pringle.
The BBC dramatisation of the Charles Kingsley novel provided a real taste of a harsh and bloody period in British history and was presented in 16 weekly parts – the longest classical serial ever mounted by the BBC at the time.
Hereward Leofricsson
Alfred Lynch Martin Lightfoot
Bryan Pringle Torfrida
Yvonne Furneaux William of Normandy
John Carson Ivo Taillebois
Alan Rowe Gilbert of Ghent
Francis De Wolff Alftruda
Justine Lord Prior Herluin
David Swift Winter
John Collin Gwenoch
Peter Needham Sir Raoul de Selignat
Clive Graham Lady Godiva
Dorothy Reynolds Earl Leofric
Tony Steedman Edwin
Alan Lake Pery
Arthur Cox Thorold
Peter Stephens Ranald of Ramsey
David Neal Baldwin
Kynaston Reeves Abbot of St. Bertin
Patrick Holt Arnoul
Raymond Platt Earl Harold
Peter Arne Gyda
Margaret Vines Morcar
Gilbert Wynne Abbot Brand
John Wentworth Horsa
Michael Miller
Episodes
Forfeit for Eternity | A Single Blow | The Brain Biter | A Champion’s Reward | The Sorceress of St. Omer | The Court of Love | The Wind Blows | Death of a King | The War Arrow | The Art of War | The Broken Promise | Live and Die | The Burning of the Golden Borough | Face to Face | The King’s Vengeance | The Last of the English
One day, a stiff Norman cleric (David Swift) falls foul of Hereward and his drunken housecarls, and this is the last straw: Hereward is made “Wolf’s Head” (outlaw) and so he becomes a roving fighter and berserker, leading a sustained and gallant resistance to William and his Norman followers.
