Lavish B.B. C. drama series for N.Z.

Press, 17 November 1987, Page 15

Lavish B.B. C. drama series for N.Z.

By

TONY VERDON

London Correspondent "Fortunes of War,” one of the 8.8.C.’s most ambitious drama serials, is to screen on Television One next year. The prestigious sevenpart series which portrays civilian life in wartime Europe is one of a raft of series bought this month by Television New Zealand executives. Both the Controller of Television One, Mr Harold Anderson, and the Controller of Two, Mr John Mcßae, have been in Britain for three weeks viewing new programmes. "Fortunes of War” is currently screening on Sunday nights on 8.8. C. 1, but is unlikely to begin screening in New Zealand until March or July next year. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson star in Alan Plater’s adaptation of Olivia Manning’s “Balkan Trilogy” and “Levant Trilogy” which has received widespread critical praise in Britain.

The serial was filmed on location in Yugoslavia,

Greece and Egypt, and tells the story of a newly married couple who arrive in Bucharest where Guy is to be a lecturer at the University. In the face of the advancing German army, the couple are eventually forced to flee from Bucharest to Athens and then from Athens to Cairo. The lavish series is directed by James Cellan Jones, whose credits include “The Forsyte Saga.” Mr Mcßae said that while it was an excellent production, "Fortunes of War” was not quite in the same league as “The Forsyte Saga.” It was logical for the series to be shown on Television One, the channel which was aimed at an older, more serious information-oriented audience. Mr Mcßae said his own Network Two would be screening another 8.8. C. production currently being shown in Britain, “Vanity Fair,” an adaptation of the novel by William Thackeray.