by Alexandre Dumas from the version for broadcasting in twelve parts by Patrick Riddell
9—' Matrimonial Projects ' with members of the BBC Drama Repertory Company
Produced by Peter Watts
Edmond Dantes has come to Paris to revenge himself on the three men responsible for his imprisonment. He has learned that Danglars gets advance financial information through his wife's lover Debray, and he now means to make use of this fact. He also tempts Danglars, through his greed, into marrying his daughter to a felon masquerading as an Italian nobleman, Cavalcanti.
For the downfall of de Villefort, he has not only unearthed a scandal in the man's past, but has also encouraged Mme. de Villefort's unhealthy interest in poisons. De Villefort's rich old father, once an active Bonapartist, is now completely paralysed, but he opposes his granddaughter Valentine's marriage to Baron Franz d'Epinay. Valentine is in love with a dashing Captain, the son of Dantes' employer years ago in Marseilles.
As to Fernand Mondego, the third of his enemies, Dantes has let the story of the origins of the man's fortunes leak out in Paris.