Introduction
Fortunes of War is a 1987 BBC television adaptation of Olivia Manning’s cycle of novels Fortunes of War.
It stars Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle, lecturer in English Literature in Bucharest during the early part of the Second World War, and Emma Thompson as his wife Harriet.
Outline
A despondent Harriet arrives in Athens, where she is overjoyed to see Yakimov at a café. They find employment at the British Information Office but when Pinkrose begins to work there, the mood turns sour. Harriet meets a young soldier, Charles Warden, who is quite taken with her. She considers having an affair with him but as she is going to his hotel room on the final afternoon before he must leave she sees Sasha Drucker on the stairs. Sasha is convinced that the Pringles turned him in; Harriet assures him they did not. The delay makes her think better of her relationship with Warden. Guy applies for a lecturing post at the English School but is dismayed to find he is not the first in the queue. When Athens comes under enemy fire, Yakimov lights a cigarette outside during the blackout and is shot dead by a sentry. The remaining group leaves Athens for Cairo by sea.
Fortunes of War Series
You can find a full index and overview of Fortunes of War here.
Production & Filming Details
- Release Date: 01 November 1987.
- Running Time: 60 minutes.
- Rating: 15.
- Country: UK.
- Language: English.
Military Gogglebox 