War and Peace (TV series)

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War and Peace
War and Peace TV mini series DVD cover
Format	Historical fiction
Created by	David Conroy
Starring	Anthony Hopkins Alan Dobie Morag Hood Angela Down
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	20
Production
Running time	15 hours
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	1972 – 1973
External links
IMDb profile

for other uses of the phrase "War and Peace" see War and Peace (disambiguation)

War and Peace was a made-for-television dramatization of the Leo Tolstoy novel of the same name. This 20 episode series began airing on September 28, 1972.

The classic BBC dramatisation of Tolstoy's epic story of love and loss set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Anthony Hopkins heads the cast as the soul-searching Pierre Bezukhov (a role for which he won the 1972 Best Actor BAFTA); Morag Hood is the impulsive and beautiful Natasha Rostova; Alan Dobie is the dour but heroic Andrei Bolkonsky; and David Swift is Napoleon, whose decision to invade Russia in 1812 has far-reaching consequences for Pierre and the Rostov and Bolkonsky families.

This twenty-part serial was the vision of its producer David Conroy. His aim was to transfer the characters and plot from Tolstoy's magnum opus to television drama to run for 15 hours (actually closer to 17). Scripted by Jack Pulman and directed by John Davies, Conroy's War and Peace boasts superb acting, award-winning design (1972 Best Design BAFTA) and battle sequences, which were filmed in what was then Yugoslavia.

This dramatization differs from previous ones in that it preserves many of Tolstoy's "minor" characters—notably Platon Karataev, played by Harry Locke.

[edit] DVD Release

The complete unedited series was released in a Region 2 4-DVD boxset by DD Home Entertainment in 2005. The set is accompanied by an illustrated booklet, written by Andy Priestner, which provides a detailed account of how the series was made.