Eddie Redmayne and Clémence Poésy star as the passionate young lovers Stephen and Isabelle, brought together by love and torn apart by the First World War, in BBC One’s adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’s modern classic, Birdsong.
Adapted by Bafta award-winning Abi Morgan, the two parter spans the decade of the First World War, telling the story of Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman who, in 1910, arrives in Amiens, Northern France, to stay with the Azaire family and falls desperately in love with Isabelle Azaire.
They begin an illicit and all-consuming affair, with huge consequences for them both. Years later in 1916, Stephen finds himself serving on the Western Front in the very area where he experienced his great love. As he battles amidst the horror of the trenches he meets Jack Firebrace, a tunneller who unexpectedly helps him endure the ravages of war and enables him to make peace with his feelings for Isabelle, who he is destined to meet again.
production details
UK | BBC One | 2×85 minutes | Broadcast 22 – 29 January 2012
Writer: Abi Morgan
Novel: Sebastian Faulks,
cast
Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Wraysford
Clémence Poésy as Isabelle Azaire
Richard Madden as Captain Weir
Matthew Goode as Captain Gray
Rory Keenan as Private Brennan
Joseph Mawle as Jack Firebrace
Thomas Turgoose as Private Tipper
Misi Dunai as Riley
George MacKay as Private Douglas
Simon Nehan as Evans
Daniel Cerqueira as Shaw
Nicholas Moss as RSM Price
Marie-Josée Croze as Jeanne
Matthew Aubrey as Private Byrne
Paul Rattray as Tyson
