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Airdate: Vanity Fair

Sprawling UK period drama will premiere on BBC First in early October.

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Sprawling UK period drama Vanity Fair will premiere on BBC First in early October.

The adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel stars Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One) as Becky Sharpe, Martin Clunes (Doc Martin), Johnny Flynn (Genius), Frances de la Tour (History Boys), Tom Bateman (Da Vinci’s Demons), Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster) and Michael Palin as Thackeray himself.

The ITV / Amazon Studios-produced series debuted in the UK this week.

Gwyneth Hughes’ (Victoria) adaptation of Thackeray’s literary classic is set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, and follows Becky Sharp as she attempts to claw her way out of poverty and scale the heights of English Society. Her story of “villainy, crime, merriment, lovemaking, jilting, laughing, cheating, fighting and dancing” takes her all the way to the court of King George IV, via the Battle of Waterloo, breaking hearts and losing fortunes as she goes.

The ensemble cast also includes Claudia Jessie (Line of Duty) who plays Becky’s confidante Amelia Sedley, with theatrical titan Simon Russell Beale (The Hollow Crown) and Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) as her parents, and David Fynn (School of Rock) as her brother Jos and Charlie Rowe (Salvation) as George Osborne.

Thursdays from October 11 at 8.30pm on BBC First.

Corrected.

2 Responses

  1. David, love the offbeat/time-traveling casting that has the actual living actress Olivia Cooke inserted into the story as a character and that they’ve been able to find an actress called Becky Sharpe to play her!!! What are the odds???

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