
Aired as the first episode of Mystery! On PBS in 1980, the highly entertaining thriller stars Golden Globe®-nominee Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Heroes), Emmy®-winner Eileen Atkins (Cold Mountain, Gosford Park), and BAFTA-nominee Michael Jayston (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy).Malcolm McDowell and Eileen Atkins are perfect foils in this rollicking British drama set in a Pyrenees chateau in the 1920s. McDowell plays the gallant Richard Chandos, a vacationing English gentleman who must pit his wits against the evil Vanity Fair (Atkins) and her motley band of assorted criminals. Hell-bent on forcing her kidnapped stepdaughter to marry, Fair will inherit a fortune if she succeeds. Chandos is just as determined to stop her. But Vanity Fair keeps one step ahead of him, a trick forever up her sleeve and murder in her heart. Based on the novel by Dornford Yates and adapted by Tom Sharpe (Wilt, Porterhouse Blue), this old-fashioned thriller features head-snapping plot twists and a generous helping of sly humor. The drama was filmed in the beautiful Pyrenees.
Director: Clive Donner
Producer: Mark Shivas
Actor: Eileen Atkins
Actor: Karen Dotrice
Actor: Malcolm McDowell
Actor: Michael Jayston