The fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War.

A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky.

Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter.

There's a lively dinner party at the Rostov family home and Anna Mikhailovna Dubretskoy is in battle with Prince Vassily over the will and inheritance of the wealthy Count Bezukhov. It seems Pierre, his illegitimate son, may inherit the Count's vast fortune. Meanwhile, Andrei's decision to join the army causes tension between him and his pregnant wife, Lise.

The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.

War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction.

Paterson Joseph ...... Pierre Bezuhkov
Lesley Manville ...... Countess Rostov
John Hurt ...... Prince Bolkonsky
Alun Armstrong ...... Count Rostov
Phoebe Fox ...... Natasha Rostov
Sam Reid ...... Nikolai Rostov
Tamzin Merchant ...... Sonya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore ...... Andrei Bolkonsky
Natasha Little ...... Marya Bolkonsky
Roger Allam ...... General Kutuzov
Harriet Walter ...... Mikhailovna Drubetskoy

Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015. Show less