Edward And Mrs Simpson (ITV Drama, Edward Fox)

Period drama serial Edward And Mrs Simpson followed the events surrounding the abdication of Edward VIII (Edward Fox) leading up to the actual day on 10th Dec 1936.

Edward Fox was riding high at the time having made a massive breakthrough in Frederick Forsyth’s Day of the Jackal and he gained most of the plaudits for his performance as Edward.

Wallis Simpson (Cynthia Harris), who was still very much alive at the time of broadcast was none too pleased with the picture painted of her by the serial.

The key dates surrounding the abdication
June 1931: Mrs Simpson is presented at court
20 Jan 1936: George V dies and Edward becomes King
27 Oct 1936: Mrs Simpson is given a decree nisi
10 Dec 1936: Edward signs the Instrument of Abdication making official his intent to resign as King.
11 Dec 1936: Gives speech to the nation.
12 Dec 1936: Heads off by boat into exile.
May 1937: Mrs Simpson’s divorce becomes absolute
3 June 1937: Edward and Mrs Simpson marry.

Cast: Edward Fox as Edward; Cynthia Harris as Mrs Simpson; Andrew Ray as Duke of York; David Waller as Stanley Baldwin; Amanda Reiss as Duchess of York; Peter Ellis as Osborn; Marius Goring as King George V; Edward Jewesbury as Lord Dawson; Charles Keating as Ernest Simpson; Cherie Lunghi as Lady Thelma Furness; Kika Markham as Freda Dudley Ward; Jeremy Child as Piers Legh; Peggy Ashcroft as Queen Mary; Jessie Matthews as Aunt Bessie Merryman; Patricia Hodge as Lady Diana Cooper; Maurice Denham as Archbishop of Canterbury; Elsie Randolph as Lady Colefax; Gary Waldhorn as Chips Channon; Simon Cadell as Major John Aird; Nigel Hawthorne as Walter Monckton; Wensley Pithey as Winston Churchill; John Shrapnel as Major Alexander Hardinge; Gerald Sim as Theodore Goddard; Ed Devereaux as Lord Beaverbrook; Michael Stroud as Esmond Harmsworth; Geoffrey Lumsden as Geoffrey Dawson; Patrick Troughton as Clement Attlee; Robert Flemyng as Sir Donald Somervell

Writer: Simon Raven / Production Design: Martyn Herbert, Allan Cameron / Associate Producer: Brenda Ennis / Producer: Andrew Brown / Director: Waris Hussein

UK / ITV – Thames / 7×60 minute episodes / Broadcast 8 November – 20 December 1978