MASTERPIECE THEATRE: THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE, EPISODE 1 (TV)
Summary
The first of seven episodes in this television adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel set in rural southern England in the mid-1800s. In this episode, Michael Henchard (Bates), an unemployed farmer, gets drunk at a county fair and auctions off his wife, Susan (Stallybrass), and their infant daughter to a sailor, Newson (Owens). The action resumes eighteen years later. After Newson is lost at sea, Susan and her now-grown daughter, Elizabeth-Jane (Maw), who is ignorant of past events, set out in search of Henchard. They find him in Casterbridge, where he has become a successful merchant and the mayor. Henchard confides in Donald Farfrae (Galloway), who manages his accounts, revealing his secret past and his current affair with a woman in a nearby county. When he learns that Susan is in Casterbridge, the remorseful Henchard insists that they remarry to right the events of the past. (Presented under the umbrella "Masterpiece Theatre." Note: This copy does not include commentary by Alistair Cooke.)
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: September 3, 1978 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:52:49
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T88:0467
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1978
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jonathan Powell … Producer
- David Giles … Director
- Thomas Hardy … Writer, Based on the novel by
- Dennis Potter … Adapted by
- Carl Davis … Composer, Conductor
- Alan Bates … Cast, Henchard, Michael
- Janet Maw … Cast, Elizabeth-Jane
- Anne Stallybrass … Cast, Susan
- Anna Massey … Cast, Lucetta
- Richard Owens … Cast, Newson
- Jack Galloway … Cast, Farfrae