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Lesley Manville

John Hurt

Alun Armstrong

Harriet Walter

Leo Tolstoy

Timberlake Wertenbaker

Celia de Wolff

War and Peace: Episode 1

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Episode 1

War and Peace

BBC Radio 4 - War and Peace, Episode 1

Prince Vassily and Anna battle over Count Bezukhov's Will. Stars John Hurt.

4 Extra Debut. Andrei joins the army while Prince Vassily and Anna battle over Count Bezukhov's will. Starring John Hurt and Paterson Joseph.

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.

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Dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic.

Dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic, which follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War.

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