Lost Empires
Encyclopedia
Lost Empires is a 1986
1986 in television
The year 1986 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1986.For the American network television schedule, please see 1986-87 American network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:*September 6 –...

 television adaptation of J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley
John Boynton Priestley, OM , known as J. B. Priestley, was an English novelist, playwright and broadcaster. He published 26 novels, notably The Good Companions , as well as numerous dramas such as An Inspector Calls...

's novel of the same name, and starred Colin Firth
Colin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...

, John Castle
John Castle
John Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...

 and Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

. It was shown as a miniseries, and premiered on UK TV in October 1986.

Plot

A young man (Firth
Firth
Firth is the word in the Lowland Scots language and in English used to denote various coastal waters in Scotland and England. In mainland Scotland it is used to describe a large sea bay, or even a strait. In the Northern Isles it more usually refers to a smaller inlet...

) joins a traveling show with his uncle. He is lured into the majestic, mysterious quality of the magic show and is soon an important fixture at conjuring acts and disappearing acts.

During the course of the seven episodes (eight hours), Firth's character, young Richard Herncastle, sees the "whole wide world" from backstage at the music hall variety shows with which the magic act travels, just as his uncle Nick (John Castle
John Castle
John Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...

) has promised--hilarity, beauty, love, lust, fear, despair. Richard comes of age just as the world enters the fateful year of 1914--the outbreak of World War I, when the greatest of all disappearing acts becomes imminent: the disappearance of millions.

The series has the second to last appearance of Olivier as a fading comedian named Harry Burrard, who has long since lost his audience and his comic abilities. Harry should have retired years before, however he has nowhere else to go and his brain is collapsing into paranoia. The role is a sort of older version of Olivier's Archie Rice, from The Entertainer
The Entertainer (film)
The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....

(1960).

Cast

  • Colin Firth
    Colin Firth
    SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...

     as Richard Herncastle
  • John Castle
    John Castle
    John Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...

     as Nick Ollanton
  • Gillian Bevan
    Gillian Bevan
    Gillian Bevan is an English actress, best known for her roles in British television shows and West End theatre....

     as Cissie Mapes
  • Beatie Edney
    Beatie Edney
    Beatrice "Beatie" Edney is an English television actress.Born Beatrice Edney in London, she is the daughter of famous British actress Sylvia Syms and cousin of Nicholas Webb. Edney first came to audiences' attention as Heather MacLeod the 1986 film Highlander, the first film in the Highlander series...

     as Nancy Ellis
  • Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

     as Harry Burrard
  • Carmen du Sautoy
    Carmen du Sautoy
    Carmen Du Sautoy is an award-winning leading actress who has worked extensively in theatre, television and film...

     as Julie Blane
  • Pamela Stephenson
    Pamela Stephenson
    Pamela Helen Stephenson Connolly is a New Zealand-born Australian clinical psychologist and writer now resident in the United Kingdom. She is best known for her work as an actress and comedian during the 1980s...

     as Lilly Farris
  • Jim Carter
    Jim Carter
    Jim Carter is an English actor.-Early life:Carter was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. His father worked for the Air Ministry and his mother was a land girl and later a school secretary...

     as Inspector Crabbe

Lost Empires features wonderful performances by all concerned. Firth is a very convincing 18-year-old, wet behind the ears but determined to learn everything he can, especially about women. Castle makes of Uncle Nick a mysterious, almost sinister character--someone who would be drawn to magic. Olivier's turn is heartbreaking, and Carmen du Sautoy
Carmen du Sautoy
Carmen Du Sautoy is an award-winning leading actress who has worked extensively in theatre, television and film...

 is hypnotizing as the older woman who tells Richard on their first meeting, "You're rather sweet"--and moves on from there.

Awards

The series was nominated for six Television BAFTA Awards
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...

  including Best Costume Design, Best Make-up. In the US Olivier received an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090476/awards.
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