Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.
Comedian Al Murray plays his great, great, great grandfather William Makepeace Thackeray as the unreliable narrator in this new anarchic dramatisation by Jim Poyser. Moneyless Becky Sharp leaves school with her upper class friend Amelia Sedley. But she is clever, cunning and determined to make her way in Regency society, and she'll trample on anyone who gets in her way.

Thackeray (narrator)...................Al Murray
Becky Sharp......................Ellie White
Amelia Sedley..................Helen O'Hara
Rawdon Crawley..............Blake Ritson
Jos Sedley..........................Thom Tuck
George Osborne..............Rupert Hill
Dobbin................................Graeme Hawley
Mrs Sedley.........................Emma Gregory
Mr Sedley..........................Jonathan Keeble
Mr Osborne....................Malcolm Raeburn
Director/Producer Gary Brown.

This was a ground breaking novel. Thackeray wished to counter Victorian England's belief that it was impossible for women to create a strong self-image. According to 19th-century literary norms, the book's heroine should have been the upper-class Amelia Sedley; Thackeray, though, ensures that she is outshone by the lower-class Becky Sharp throughout. Show less