Benjamin Disraeli’s powerful, polemical story of love across the class divide

Chosen by The Guardian as one of the best 100 novels of all time, Disraeli’s classic 1845 ‘condition-of-England’ novel exposes the inequality and exploitation endemic in 19th century Britain, and the vast gulf between the haves and the have-nots.

It centres on Charles Egremont, a member of the landed gentry and newly elected MP. With a glittering future ahead of him, he is in need of a suitable wife, and his brother, the Earl of Marney, is keen that he should marry Lady Joan Fitz-Warene. The heiress to Mowbray Castle, she brings with her a considerable fortune: but from the moment Charles sets eyes on Sybil Gerard in the ruins of Marney Abbey, he can think of no-one else.

Sybil is beautiful, graceful and ethereal – and the daughter of a Yorkshire millworker. When her father, a militant Chartist, shares with Charles his theory of the ‘two nations’ of rich and poor, Charles’ eyes are opened, and he disguises himself as a reporter to investigate the plight of the working classes. As he falls deeper in love with Sybil, and discovers what life is really like for the less fortunate, he determines to use his position to effect change. But those in power are not easily swayed, nor is Sybil’s heart easily won...

Starring Richard Derrington as Charles, with Sorcha Cusack as Sybil, this absorbing historical drama vividly evokes both the luxurious life of the aristocracy and the grinding poverty of the farm labourers, miners and factory workers struggling for existence on the other side of the social divide.

Production credits

Written by Benjamin Disraeli

Dramatised by Frederick Bradnum

Directed by Vanessa Whitburn

Episode List:
1: Marney Town and Marney Abbey
2: Mowbray Town and Mowbray Castle
3: Mowedale and Hellhouse
4: The Chartists and the Aristocracy
5: Love and Conspiracy
6: Of Destruction and Reconciliation

Cast

Charles Egremont – Richard Derrington
Walter Gerard – Alan Doble
Lord Marney – Michael N Harbour
Stephen Morley – Terry Molloy
Benjamin Disraeli – Richard Pasco
Lady Marney/Lady Deloraine – Patricia Gallimore
Arabella Marney – Kathryn Hurlbutt
Sir Vavasour Firebrace – Robert Dorning
Mother Superior – Penelope Lee
Taper/Bingley/Sinister man – David Vann
Tadpole – David Peart
Mr Pugh – Bill Bellamy
Lord Milford/Brewer – Kim Durham
Captain Grouse/Lawyer – Scott Cherry
Mountchesney/Constable/Tanner/Field – Peter Harlowe
Berneers/Peer/Youth – Jonathan Owen
Lord Mowbray/Juggins – Stephen Hancock
Lady Joan/Caroline – Elizabeth Proud
Lady Maud/Harriet – Hedli Niklaus
Lady Mowbray – Eileen Barry
Aubrey St Lys – Clive Marlowe
Dandy Mick/Youth – Paul Copley
Devilsdust – Alan Devereux
Chaffing Jack/Police Inspector – William Eedle
Widow Carey – Mary Wimbush
Mrs Warner – Pauline Siddle
Maria/Dame – Carole Boyd
Bishop Hatton – Roger Hume
Mrs Hatton – Joyce Latham
Nixon/Jermyn/Diggs – James Kerry
Mr Trafford/Waghorne/Sergeant – Michael Bilton
Mrs Trafford – Shirley Stelfox
Scrubbynose – David Conner
Baptist Hatton – Peter Tuddenham
Julia – Anna Lindup
Girls and boys of Mowedale and Hellhouse – Members of the Forest Youth Theatre, Walsall

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13 November-18 December 1983

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