An unfortunate duel is the catalyst for young Redmond Barry to leave his native Ireland and serve on the battlefields of the Seven Years War - before a chance reunion with his long-lost uncle offers a way to make their fortune at the gaming-tables of the highest courts of Europe.

William Makepeace Thackeray's classic novel (1844) about the rise and fall of an Irish adventurer, set during the last half of the 18th century. The action moves from rural Ireland to the courts of Europe to the drawing rooms of English society.

The first of two-parts dramatised by Don McCamphill.

Barry ...... Gerard McSorley
Redmond ...... Andrew Scott
Chevalier de Balibari ...... David Kelly
Bell Barry ...... Sheila Hancock
Lord Lyndon ...... Kenneth Cranham
Sir Rumford Bumford ...... Jamie Foreman
Mme Fitzsimons ...... Tina Kellegher
Fitzsimons ...... Kevin Flood
Captain Fagan ...... Frank O'Sullivan
John Quin ...... Mark Lambert
Von Potzdorff ...... Don Wycherley
Ulick ...... Darragh Kelly
Mick ...... Eanna MacLiam
Nora ...... Alice Barry

Directed at BBC Belfast by Lawrence Jackson.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003. Show less