The Go-Between
Drama adapted from LP Hartley's novel, a story of forbidden desire and betrayal as seen through the impressionable eyes of a 13-year-old boy at the start of the 20th century.
One of the most influential British novels of the 20th century, The Go-Between is a story of forbidden love, Edwardian strictures, betrayal and tragic naivety.
Told from the perspective of Leo Colston, a callow 12-year-old middle-class boy, the story starts when he is invited by upper-class school friend Marcus Maudsley to stay at his elegant family home for the blazing hot summer of 1900. Leo is instantly enthralled by Marcus's family, and most especially his beautiful and wilful older sister Marian. When Marcus is taken ill, Leo is left to his own devices, but finds himself alone and adrift in a world of alien social mores and adult concerns.
Gauche and anxious to please, Leo is slowly and unwittingly drawn into a web of deceit as Marian pursues an illicit and passionate affair with tenant farmer Ted Burgess, a man of much inferior social position whom she can never marry. Marian and Ted befriend the lonely and easily influenced Leo and use him to carry secret messages between them. Leo quickly grows friendly with Ted and worships Marian with a mixture of innocent love and incipient sexuality he barely understands. Only when he meets Hugh Trimingham, the kind, war-wounded aristocrat to whom Marian is promised, does Leo start to question his role as intermediary.
As Leo's 13th birthday approaches, Marian's moods fluctuate and the summer heat becomes more oppressive. Wholly unable to comprehend the true implications of the adult emotions seething around him, Leo sets in motion a chain of events that ultimately prove the catalyst for a shocking tragedy that will haunt him forever.
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Clips
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Encounter at the lake
Duration: 01:11
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Lesley Manville outlines Mrs. Maudsley's plans for Marian
Duration: 02:29
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Stephen Campbell Moore introduces Trimingham
Duration: 01:34
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Jack Hollington and Samuel Joslin discuss their characters
Duration: 02:04
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Old Leo | Jim Broadbent |
Leo | Jack Hollington |
Marcus Maudsley | Samuel Joslin |
Butler | Tim McMullan |
Marian Maudsley | Joanna Vanderham |
Mrs Maudsley | Lesley Manville |
Denys Maudsley | Jack Cutmore-Scott |
Julia | Emily Laing |
Ted Burgess | Ben Batt |
Hugh Trimingham | Stephen Campbell Moore |
Old Marian | Vanessa Redgrave |
Boy Treble | Nicholas Evans |
Writer | Adrian Hodges |
Producer | Claire Bennett |
Director | Pete Travis |
Executive Producer | Susan Hogg |
Executive Producer | Adrian Hodges |
Broadcasts
- Sun 20 Sep 2015 21:00
- Thu 5 Aug 2021 22:00
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Trailer: The Go-Between
Official 麻豆官网首页入口 One launch trailer for The Go-Between.
Interview: Joanna Vanderham
Joanna Vanderham unwraps the irresistible Marian.
Interview: Ben Batt
Ben Batt describes Ted's romantic side and his love for Marian.