War and Peace (1972)

War and Peace is a television dramatization of the Leo Tolstoy novel of War and Peace. This 20 episode series began on 28 September 1972. The BBC dramatisation of Tolstoy's epic story of love and loss set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Anthony Hopkins heads the cast as the soul-searching Pierre Bezukhov, Morag Hood is the impulsive and beautiful Natasha Rostova, Alan Dobie is the dour, heroic Andrei Bolkonsky and David Swift is Napoleon, whose decision to invade Russia in 1812 has far-reaching consequences for Pierre and the Rostov and Bolkonsky families. The twenty-part serial was produced by David Conroy. His aim was to transfer the characters and plot from Tolstoy's magnum opus to television drama to run for 15 hours. Scripted by Jack Pulman and directed by John Davies, Conroy's War and Peace had battle sequences which were filmed in Yugoslavia. The production designer Don Homfray won a BAFTA for his work on the series. This dramatization differs from previous ones in that it preserves many of Tolstoy's "minor" characters — notably Platon Karataev, played by Harry Locke.