The Line of Beauty

In this riveting film, a young gay man experiences the euphoria of love and the tragedy of AIDS in 1980s London. Powerhouse performances dramatize the crisis that crawled deep under Britain's conservative skin during the Thatcher years. Dan Stevens (Sense and Sensibility, Dracula) stars in this brilliant adaptation by Andrew Davies. Recommended for mature viewers.

It is the summer of 1983, and young Nick Guest has moved into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the Feddens: Gerald, an ambitious new Tory MP, his wealthy wife Rachel, and their children Toby and Catherine.

At Oxford Nick had been infatuated with Toby (who is straight), but in London it is the troubled Catherine, the critic and rebel of the family, who becomes both his friend and his uneasy responsibility.

As the boom years of the mid-80s unfold, Nick, an innocent in matters of politics, money & sex, becomes caught up in the Fedden's world - its grand parties, its surprising alliances, its parade of monsters both comic and menacing.

In an era of endless possibility, Nick finds himself able to pursue his own private obsession with beauty - a prize as compelling to him as power and riches are to his friends. An affair with a young black council worker gives him his first experience of romance, but it is his later affair with the beautiful son of a Lebanese millionaire that changes his life more drastically and brings into question the larger fantasies of a ruthless decade.

Richly textured, emotionally charged and disarmingly funny, The Line of Beauty is adapted by Britain's best-known, award-winning dramatist from a novel by one of the finest living writers in the English language.

The Love Chord - It’s the summer of 1983 and Nick Guest comes to live with the Feddens. Gerald Fedden has recently been elected a new Conservative Member of Parliament in a landslide victory for Mrs Thatcher.

When the family head off on holiday, Nick is left in the house, 'responsible' for Catherine, his friend Toby’s manic depressive sister. The two of them bond, Catherine urging Nick to explore his sexuality, and he helping her with her illness.

With her encouragement, he answers a lonely hearts advertisement and meets young black council-worker Leo – a world away from the rich, privileged life of the Feddens.

To Whom Do You Beautifully Belong? - It’s the summer of 1986 and Nick is leading the sort of life he has always dreamed of. He is safely installed as a member of the Fedden household and is a player on the London gay scene – though his gorgeous boyfriend, Wani, is keeping their affair secret to protect his and his family’s name. After an afternoon at Hampstead ponds, Nick indulges Wani’s needs and takes part in a threesome.

Meanwhile, Gerald holds a piano recital for his ghastly Tory pals. Wani’s fiancée and his father are both there and Nick feels the pressure of his secret love affair more than ever.

Later, Nick returns to Barwick, where Gerald is opening a fête. Dropping in at the hotel, Nick walks in on Gerald being given a blow job by his secretary, Penny. Gerald meets Nick’s eye and Nick flees.

Wani and Nick join the Feddens on holiday in France. Catherine’s boyfriend Jasper is there, bonding with Gerald. Toby has been dumped by his fiancée, but Gerald has still invited her infuential parents. Over supper, Rachel delivers the news that Catherine’s godfather has died of pneumonia, but Catherine is desperate that the truth be told and that her family accept that he died of Aids. Later, Nick and Wani have sex in the pool house and Catherine discovers the truth about their relationship.

In the pub before the Gerald and Rachel’s silver wedding party, Nick spots Leo, looking seriously ill, and realises that the love of his life is dying from Aids. At the party, Nick discovers Wani and Jasper having sex. Nick is shattered and realises that Wani doesn’t seem that concerned about their affair. He takes some cocaine and, to the amazement of the guests, leads Mrs Thatcher onto the dance floor...

The End of the Street - It is 1987, and there is soon to be a General Election. Nick has other things on his mind - an HIV test. He will know the result in eight days' time.

Nick is at the Ogee offices when Rosemary Charles, Leo's sister, arrives with her girlfriend. She tells him that Leo died of AIDS three weeks ago. Nick remembers the heady summer of 1983 and mourns the loss of his first great love. That evening, Nick and Catherine watch the election results together and see Gerald retain his seat.

Nick is at a meeting with two American producers, Brad and Treat. Wani joins them; he is clearly succumbing to AIDS. Nick comforts him and, on their way back from the meeting, Wani reveals that he intends to set Nick up financially before he dies. He also warns Nick that Gerald may be in trouble for insider trading.

Outside the Feddens' Kensington home, the newshounds are already scenting blood. Nick takes tea with Rachel and Lionel as they try to assess how serious this could become. Later, over supper, an excitable Catherine tells Nick and Rachel that she is seeing Russell again. They warn her not to trust him.

After the meal, Catherine and Nick escape the tension in the house. She leads Nick to Badgers' London pied-à-terre where they find a flustered-looking Penny and Gerald.

Heedless of the warning, Catherine has disclosed details of Gerald's affair to Russell and it is now front-page news. Rachel confronts Nick. He has failed to control and protect Catherine. He has betrayed the family's trust in him. Why didn't he call them four years ago when Catherine harmed herself? She orders him to find Catherine and bring her home.

Catherine is at Russell's and refuses to come home. She does, however, make a mysterious apology, which only makes sense to Nick the following day when details of his affair with Wani appear on the front page of the Evening Standard.

Gerald resigns, and Toby tells Nick he can no longer stay at the house. Toby is hurt that he never knew anything about Nick and Wani's relationship. Nick tries to explain but realises their friendship is over.

Nick has to say goodbye to Gerald. When he tries to apologise, Gerald is aggressive and his latent homophobic views come to the surface. Nick hits back - it wasn't him who harmed the family. They dumped their depressed daughter on him without a thought and he has looked after her better than they ever did. Gerald demands he leave the house immediately. As he leaves, Nick waves at Rachel watching from the window. She doesn't respond.

Walking down the street, Nick feels a strange sense of liberation. Perhaps a new, beautiful chapter in his life is about to begin...

Catherine Fedden	---	Hayley Atwell
Gerald Fedden	---	Tim McInnerney
Rachel Fedden	---	Alice Krige
Wani Ouradi	---	Alex Wyndham
Toby Fedden	---	Oliver Coleman
Leo Charles	---	Don Gilet
Jasper	---	Joseph Morgan
Penny Kent	---	Lydia Leonard
Elena	---	Carmen Du Sautoy
Badger	---	John Warnaby
Lady Partridge	---	Caroline Blakiston
Tristao	---	Bruno Lastra
Barry Groom	---	Chris Fairbank
John Timms	---	David Yelland
Greta Timms	---	Julia St John
Brentford	---	Oscar James
Martine	---	Siri Svegler
Lord Kessler	---	John Standing
Polly Tompkins	---	James Bradshaw
Sir Maurice Tipper	---	Kenneth Cranham
Sophie Tipper	---	Barbara Flynn
Ricky	---	Adam Rayner
Geoffrey Titchfield	---	John Quayle
Margaret Thatcher	---	Kika Markham
Russell	---	Justin Salinger
Bertrand Ouradi	---	Andy Lucas

Screenplay by Andrew Davies
From the award-winning novel by Alan Hollinghurst
Directed by Saul Dibb, Bullet Boy
Produced by Kate Lewis , Alan Clark Diaries
Executive Produced by Hilary Salmon, Laura Mackie, Kate Lewis

“It's wonderful. It's hard to know in which direction to direct that bravo. To Hollinghurst? Of course: it's a brilliant book. And to Davies for his adaptation? Definitely ... Davies is not only following the book ... he's following all the dynamics as well: when Hollinghurst says fortissimo, he gives him fortissimo. Or, to put it more plainly, it's not so much an adaptation as a non-adaptation. And it's all the better for it. There are some wonderful performances, notably from Dan Stevens ... And from Tim McInnerny ... And credit should also go to Saul Dibb, the director ... It's all done with classy and highly effective understatement. Even the 1980s-ness of it isn't rammed down your throat.” - Guardian

"This is a sort of Thatcher era Brideshead Revisited ... there's a pleasing economy to the period detail here, which feels unobtrusive but just right. The sex scenes are also well judged, and the more squeamish viewer fearing graphic Queer as Folk-style couplings needn't shun The Line of Beauty. This is universal stuff, and a rare visit to our TV scenes by intelligent, properly grown-up drama." -Independent

"... smart script ... crisp direction ... Dan Stevens, surely a nascent star ... Hayley Atwell, another impressive newcomer..." -Financial Times

"...rich period atmosphere ... it is one of those stories where the plot is in the detail, rather than in sweeping events - and the music, fashion and attitudes of the era propel the story and lend it authenticity." -Daily Mail

"Davies's script deftly manoeuvres between the personal and the socio-political." -Sunday Times

“It is an impeccably performed and explicit study of love, sex and class set against a background of rancid politics ... Andrew Davies's stylish three-part adaptation of Hollinghurst's Booker prize-winning novel, set during the 1980s, captures the charged quality of Hollinghurst's prose.” -The Times

"...opulent scenery ... the production looks gorgeous..." -London Evening Standard

"... huge fun: a classy and engrossing entertainment." -Guardian

“As the ambitious Tory MP Gerald Fedden, Tim McInnerney delivers a performance of Camembert ripeness, oozing a sticky kind of bonhomie that carries with it the faint odour of rot. And in these days of Cameronian Conservatism - sensitive to insult and anxious to placate - it's intriguing to be reminded of the sheer commanding arrogance of Tories in their pomp, serenely assured that any other form of government was either wickedness or perversity.” -Independent

“...subtle, occasionally brilliant evocations of a period in recent history too close, and often too divisive, for TV drama to have explored in any meaningful way previously ... Newcomer Dan Stevens's dreamy-eyed charms made him instantly credible as Nick Guest.” -Daily Telegraph

"...the captivating Dan Stevens, a Hugh Grant lookalike with the same pouting, circumflex mouth..." -Independent On Sunday

"The Line of Beauty is peopled with charmingly ghastly characters, but it's also a visual treat." -Observer

"There'll be outrage over the charming scenes of alfresco gay sex. Ignore it - this is a winning, faithful truncation of Alan Hollinghurst's Booker-winning novel." -Guardian

"It's all sturdy, classy stuff ... Appropriately for something called The Line Of Beauty, the cast is preposterously beautiful. Nick, played by newcomer Dan Stevens, is a bit like a Muppet Baby incarnation of Hugh Grant, all limpid eyes and bewildered, stuttering smiles; while Hayley Atwell, playing Cat, starts out pretty and gets better-looking by the second. By the end of the first episode, she's so stupendously gorgeous, she's almost physically painful to look at. I had to rub an icecube directly on to my heart just to sit through her scenes. Mind you, Mrs Thatcher turns up in episode two, and in this world, even she's bloody beautiful." - Guardian

"Like everything in the book, it's no coincidence that Nick is writing on Henry James, and this is very much a Jamesian tale of manners and morality with a modern edge." -Guardian

"...fans of the brilliant book will not be disappointed ... This visual representation of the decade is probably more nostalgic than the book itself ... all exactly as you remember it from the hair and dresses to the bad dancing and music." -Observer