Beau Brummell This Charming Man was a one off period drama made as part of the BBC Four season called The Century That Made Us.
Filmed in Bath and Wilton House, Salisbury the drama follows he rise and fall of the man who has been declared the 1st Celebrity. But Brummell (James Purefoy) wasn’t just famous for being famous, he created a style, a fashion for wearing suits and fast living, he even introduced the Waltz to England.
At the height of his fame he owned London’s smartest club, his coterie of Dandies dominated society and his luck on the gambling tables was astonishing, he won a fortune.
But it couldn’t last. Brummell’s luck began to fail him, convinced that his position in society was unassailable and that his connections to the Royalty would protect him from his mounting debts, he made the greatest mistake of his life in publicly humiliating his benefactor the Prince Regent (Hugh Bonneville).
Cast: JAMES PUREFOY as Beau Brummell; HUGH BONNEVILLE as the Prince Regent; MATTHEW RHYS as Lord Byron; PHIL DAVIS as Brummel’s Man servant
Writer: Simon Bent /Book: The Ultimate Dandy by Ian Kelly / Producer: David Edgar / Director: Philippa Lowethorpe
UK / BBC Four – Flashback / 1×90 minute episode / June 2006
