Parade's End (TV series)

Parade's End
Genre	Period drama
Based on	Novel by Ford Madox Ford
Written by	Tom Stoppard
Directed by	Susanna White
Starring	Benedict Cumberbatch Rebecca Hall Adelaide Clemens
Composer(s)	Dirk Brossé
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	5 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michel Buck Damien Timmer
Producer(s)	David Parfitt Selwyn Roberts
Cinematography	Mike Eley
Running time	57–59 minutes (five part version) 46 minutes (six part version)
Production company(s)	Mammoth Screen in association with HBO miniseries
Release
Original network	BBC/HBO/VRT
Original release	24 August 2012 (2012-08-24) – 21 September 2012 (2012-09-21) (BBC) 26 February 2013 (2013-02-26) – 28 February 2013 (2013-02-28) (HBO)
External links
HBO: Parade's End

Parade's End is a five-part BBC/HBO/VRT television serial, which is an adaptation of the tetralogy of novels (1924-28) of the same name by Ford Madox Ford. It premiered on BBC Two on 24 August 2012 and on HBO on 26 February 2013. The series was also screened at the 39th Ghent Film Festival on 11 October 2012.^[1] Its five episodes were directed by Susanna White and written by Tom Stoppard.^[2][3] The cast was led by Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall as Christopher and Sylvia Tietjens, along with Adelaide Clemens, Rupert Everett, Miranda Richardson, Anne-Marie Duff, Roger Allam, Janet McTeer, Freddie Fox, Jack Huston, and Steven Robertson.^[4]

The series received widespread critical acclaim and is often cited as "the highbrow Downton Abbey".^[5][6] In its BBC Two premiere, it attracted 3.5 million viewers, making it BBC Two's most watched drama since Rome aired in 2005. The miniseries received six BAFTA TV nominations including Best Actress for Rebecca Hall and five Primetime Emmy Award nominations including Best Adapted Screenplay for Tom Stoppard and Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch. It won Best Costume Design at the BAFTAs.^[7][8]

Plot

A love triangle develops between the old-fashioned Christopher Tietjens, his vindictive wife Sylvia and young suffragette Valentine Wannop, in the midst of World War I and a Europe on the brink of profound change. As the war drags on, Christopher goes to fight in France, and leaves behind Sylvia, a son who may or may not be his, and Valentine. He must ultimately decide whom he is to remain with for the duration of his life: the beautiful yet manipulative Sylvia or the adoring Valentine.

Production

The series was conceived when Damien Timmer approached playwright Tom Stoppard to write the adaptation; after reading the novels, Stoppard agreed to pen the screenplay,^[9] this marking his return to television after a 30-year absence.^[10] Stoppard has stated that he had considered Benedict Cumberbatch for the role of Christopher Tietjens even before Sherlock made him a global star.^[11][12] Adelaide Clemens was cast as Valentine after arriving for her audition in period clothing. Initially producers were reluctant to cast an Australian actress, but were won over on finding that Clemens' father is a British national.^[13] A significant part of the film was shot on location in Kent at Dorton House and St. Thomas a Becket Church.^[14] Additional scenes were filmed at Freemasons' Hall in London and Duncombe Park. The rest of the series was filmed in Belgium, including Poeke Castle in the town of Aalter,^[15] utilising television drama tax breaks, with scenes at the Western Front recreated in Flanders.^[16]

Stoppard made changes from the original, such as excluding most of the fourth novel, streamlining the plot to focus on the love triangle, and adding overt sex scenes.^[17] The exclusion of the fourth novel is not original; it was also done in Graham Greene's 1963 edition of Parade's End and Ford himself sometimes referred to it as a trilogy. "He may have written the fourth to fulfill a contract or because he needed more money," said Michael Schmidt, the executor of Ford's literary estate.^[17]

Cast

Episode list

Six episode version

In some markets, such as France, the series was broadcast and released on DVD in six episodes instead of five. There is however no difference in content between the two versions. Indeed the episodes in the six-part version have an episode length of approximately 46 minutes each, instead of the 57 to 59 minutes of the five-part version.

Reception

The series has received widespread acclaim from British critics with The Independent's Grace Dent going so far as to proclaim it "one of the finest things the BBC has ever made".^[19] Others praised Cumberbatch and Hall in the lead roles, Cumberbatch for his ability to express suppressed pain with The Independent's Gerard Gilbert saying "Perhaps no other actor of his generation is quite so capable of suggesting the tumult beneath a crusty, seemingly inert surface"^[20] and The Arts Desk's Emma Dibdin finding "Cumberbatch's performance... faultless and often achingly moving, a painful juxtaposition of emotional stiffness and deep, crippling vulnerability".^[21] Hall's Sylvia was lauded as "one of the great female characters of the past decade" by Caitlin Moran, who also wrote that "the script and direction have genius-level IQ" in her Times TV column.^[22]

Parade's End attracted 3.5 million viewers for its first episode, making it BBC2's most watched drama since Rome aired in 2005.^[24] The second episode had a drop in ratings with 2.2 million viewers.^[25] A few viewers found the sound mixing problematic, with dialogue difficult to hear and understand.^[26]

The miniseries received generally favourable reviews from American and Canadian television critics for its HBO broadcast, according to Metacritic. Writing for Roger Ebert's Chicago Sun-Times column, Jeff Shannon wrote that the miniseries has "up-scale directing" and "award-worthy performances"^[27] while Brad Oswald of the Winnipeg Free Press called it "a television masterpiece".^[28]

Ford's tetralogy of novels became a best-seller after the dramatisation was broadcast on BBC.^[29]

Awards and nominations

Parade's End has been nominated for numerous awards since its original broadcast. Both Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall won the Broadcasting Press Guild awards for Best Actor and Actress respectively, while Tom Stoppard picked up the Writer's Award and the series itself won Best Drama Series.^[30]

The miniseries received six BAFTA TV nominations including Best Actress for Rebecca Hall and five Primetime Emmy Award nominations including Best Adapted Screenplay for Tom Stoppard and Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch. It won Best Costume Design at the BAFTAs.^[31]

Merchandise

BBC Books produced a tie-in edition of Parade's End with Cumberbatch, Hall and Clemens on the cover. It was made available in the UK on 16 August 2012.^[32]

A Parade's End companion book by Tom Stoppard from Faber & Faber was also made available.^[29] It contains the script and includes production stills and deleted scenes not included in the broadcast.

The soundtrack by Dirk Brossé was released in digital and physical copies on 2 October 2012.^[33]

DVD and Blu-ray copies of the series were released by the BBC on 8 October 2012. They include behind the scenes footage and selected interviews with crew and cast members.^[34]

References

External links

• Official BBC website
• Parade's End at the Internet Movie Database
• Emma John (4 September 2011). "Benedict Cumberbatch interview: On the couch with Mr Cumberbatch". The Observer (London).