Behind the Scenes Brideshead Revisited

An Epic Endeavour

The adaptation of ‘Brideshead Revisited’ was a long time coming. Evelyn Waugh himself had been in talks to bring it to the cinema back in 1945, but nothing came of it. Other failed attempts followed, until ITV acquired the rights in 1977 and asked John Mortimer (the man who created ‘Rumpole of the Bailey’) to write a five-part series. Believing five episodes wouldn't do the novel justice, Mortimer came up with a mammoth 11-part adaptation!

Series producer Derek Granger had originally hired Anthony Andrews to play the part of Charles Ryder. However, shortly before filming began, Andrews decided he preferred the part of Sebastian Flyte. Luckily, Jeremy Irons – who was due to play Flyte – preferred the part of Ryder! The stars duly swapped roles and production commenced.

‘Brideshead Revisited’ started filming in May 1979, but a sudden ITV strike brought everything to a halt in August. This was a tremendous upset for the already complicated production, and director Michael Lindsay-Hogg abruptly bailed out. This left the series without a director for a short, crisis-ridden period. Luckily, a young Waugh aficionado named Charles Sturridge took the helm in October, and everything was soon back on track.

Brideshead Castle was, in reality, Castle Howard in Yorkshire – home to the then BBC Chairman George Howard . Although ‘Brideshead’ was a rival series on ITV Howard was so excited by the idea of it that he allowed cameras into his home, supplied period props and even advised the producers on how best to depict Castle Howard on camera. Jolly nice chap!

‘Brideshead Revisited’ was one of the most expensive series ever made. It cost almost Venice to Malta, and that the series-makers shelled out The Poseidon Adventure’!£5 million to make, a particularly astronomical sum at the time. And it's not surprising, when you consider that filming took place everywhere from £50,000 for just eight minutes of filming on board the QE2. That said, they knew when to cut corners; some of the storm scenes consisted of deleted footage from the 70s disaster movie ‘