Florence Nightingale (BBC 2008, Laura Fraser, Michael Pennington)

Drama about the life of Florence Nightingale, beginning with her return from the Crimean War in 1857 and flashing back to take in aspects of her life, also a major part of the drama was music hall scenes, featuring Roy Hudd prominently, which also dramatised key moments from her life (a good way of keeping the budget down!)

After the Crimean War Nightingale lived for another half a century and revolutionised nursing care as we know it, creating new standards for the management of hospitals that are still in use today. She died in 1910.

Filming locations included Lea Hurst, Derbyshire; Butterley Station, Ripley; St John the Baptist Church, Tideswell; Manchester Town Hall; Croxteth Hall, St George’s Hall and High Park Reservoir all in Liverpool.

production details
UK | BBC Four | 1×90 minutes | 2008

Writer and Director: Norman Stone
Producer: Roger Childs
Director of Photography: Michael Fox
Music: Jeremy Soule
Production Design: Roger Murray-Leach
Costumes: Nicky Albrechtsen
Executive Producers: Susan Keane, Edward J Murray, William Spencer Reilly, Nick Stuart, Jeffrey C Weber, Jean-Claude Bragard, Carol Sennett
Director: Norman Stone

cast
Laura Fraser as Florence Nightingale
Michael Pennington as Wen
Andrew Harrison as Palmerston
Barbara Marten as Fanny
Keith Clifford as The Colonel
Roy Hudd as Music Hall barker
Catherine Tyldesley as Parthenope
Ian Bartholomew as Sir Sydney Herbert
Tim Dann as Dying Soldier
Olwen May as Mother Mary Clare
Paul Opacic as Richard Monckton-Milnes
Sean McKenzie as Dr Farr
Lorraine Cheshire as Watson
Tim Beasley as Fitzgerald