BBC Radio 4 LW

Vanity Fair: Episode 1

Vanity Fair

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - Vanity Fair, Episode 1

Vanity Fair rebooted. A new anarchic production of Vanity Fair starring Al Murray

Comedian Al Murray plays his great, great, great grandfather William Makepeace Thackeray as the unreliable narrator in this new dramatisation by Jim Poyser.

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.

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Drama

A new anarchic production of Vanity Fair starring Al Murray and Ellie White.

Comedian Al Murray plays his ancestor William Makepeace Thackeray as the unreliable narrator in this new dramatisation by Jim Poyser.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Vanity Fair

Episode 1

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4