Casanova (2005 TV serial)
Encyclopedia
Casanova is a 2005 British television
comedy drama serial
, written by television scriptwriter Russell T Davies and directed by Sheree Folkson. Produced by Red Production Company
for BBC Wales
in association with Granada Television
, the 3-episode series was first screened on digital television
station BBC Three
from 13 March, with a repeat on mainstream analogue network BBC One
commencing 4 April.
, based on his own twelve-volume memoirs, the one-hour episodes star Peter O'Toole
as the older Casanova looking back on his life, and David Tennant
as the younger version. Rose Byrne
, Rupert Penry-Jones
, Matt Lucas
, Shaun Parkes
, Nina Sosanya
and Laura Fraser
are also featured.
There are also cameo appearance
s from comedians Matt Lucas
, Mark Heap
, Simon Day
and Matthew Holness
.
when she was working at Granada-owned London Weekend Television
. However, after Gardner moved on to become Head of Drama at BBC Wales
in 2003, she commissioned Davies to write the drama for the BBC instead, as part of the deal that also saw him installed as the chief writer and Executive Producer of Doctor Who
(in which Tennant later played the Doctor's tenth incarnation
), also being overseen by Gardner and made at BBC Wales
. It was Tennant's role as the younger Giacomo that led to Davies casting him in Doctor Who as the Tenth Doctor
.
It was aired in the United States in two parts, 8 and 15 October 2006, with the full unedited British version released on DVD the following week, 17 October 2006. The programme also aired in Australia on the ABC
, again edited into two parts.
in the UK in June 2005, and in the United States in October 2006.
British television
Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
comedy drama serial
Serial (radio and television)
Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from...
, written by television scriptwriter Russell T Davies and directed by Sheree Folkson. Produced by Red Production Company
Red Production Company
Red Production Company is a British independent television production company, formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, an experienced television producer who had worked on such prestige dramas as Our Friends in the North and Cracker...
for BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
in association with Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
, the 3-episode series was first screened on digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
station BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
from 13 March, with a repeat on mainstream analogue network BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
commencing 4 April.
Synopsis
Telling the story of the life of 18th century Italian adventurer Giacomo CasanovaGiacomo Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie , is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century...
, based on his own twelve-volume memoirs, the one-hour episodes star Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
as the older Casanova looking back on his life, and David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
as the younger version. Rose Byrne
Rose Byrne
Mary Rose Byrne is an Australian actress.Byrne made her screen debut in 1994 with a small role in the film Dallas Doll...
, Rupert Penry-Jones
Rupert Penry-Jones
Rupert William Penry-Jones is an English actor, best known for his role as Adam Carter in the British television series Spooks, also broadcast under the title MI-5.-Family life:Penry-Jones was born in London on September 22, 1970...
, Matt Lucas
Matt Lucas
Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain; as well as for his portrayals of the scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the comedy panel game Shooting Stars, Tweedledee and...
, Shaun Parkes
Shaun Parkes
Shaun Parkes is an English actor currently appearing in the ITV drama Identity.-Biography:At 16 he enrolled at Seltec College to study drama, two years later he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.-Career:...
, Nina Sosanya
Nina Sosanya
Nina Sosanya is an English actress. She was born in London and her father is Nigerian. She trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, gaining A-Levels in Performing Arts....
and Laura Fraser
Laura Fraser
Laura Fraser is a Scottish actress.-Early life:Fraser is the daughter of Rose, a college lecturer and nurse, and Alister Fraser, a scriptwriter who also worked in business. She attended Hillhead High School and is a former member of the Scottish Youth Theatre...
are also featured.
Episodes
| # | Title |
|---|
Cast
- Young Giacomo CasanovaGiacomo CasanovaGiacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie , is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century...
— David TennantDavid TennantDavid Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr... - Older Giacomo Casanova — Peter O'ToolePeter O'ToolePeter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
- Henriette — Laura FraserLaura FraserLaura Fraser is a Scottish actress.-Early life:Fraser is the daughter of Rose, a college lecturer and nurse, and Alister Fraser, a scriptwriter who also worked in business. She attended Hillhead High School and is a former member of the Scottish Youth Theatre...
- Grimani — Rupert Penry-JonesRupert Penry-JonesRupert William Penry-Jones is an English actor, best known for his role as Adam Carter in the British television series Spooks, also broadcast under the title MI-5.-Family life:Penry-Jones was born in London on September 22, 1970...
- Bellino — Nina SosanyaNina SosanyaNina Sosanya is an English actress. She was born in London and her father is Nigerian. She trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, gaining A-Levels in Performing Arts....
- Rocco — Shaun ParkesShaun ParkesShaun Parkes is an English actor currently appearing in the ITV drama Identity.-Biography:At 16 he enrolled at Seltec College to study drama, two years later he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.-Career:...
- 6 year-old Giac Casanova — James Holly
- 11 year-old Giac Casanova — Brock Everitt Elwick
- 20 year-old Giac Casanova — Tom BurkeTom Burke (actor)Tom Liam Benedict Burke is an English actor.-Early life:Born on 30 June 1981; Kent, England), he is the son of actor David Burke and actress Anna Calder-Marshall...
- Edith — Rose ByrneRose ByrneMary Rose Byrne is an Australian actress.Byrne made her screen debut in 1994 with a small role in the film Dallas Doll...
- Bragadin — Freddie JonesFreddie JonesFrederick Charles "Freddie" Jones is an English character actor.Jones was born in the town of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ida Elizabeth and Charles Edward Jones. He became an actor after ten years of working as a laboratory assistant with a firm making ceramic products,...
- 5 year-old Giacomo Casanova — John Sandilands
- 11 year-old Giacomo Casanova — Zachary Fox
There are also cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s from comedians Matt Lucas
Matt Lucas
Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain; as well as for his portrayals of the scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the comedy panel game Shooting Stars, Tweedledee and...
, Mark Heap
Mark Heap
Mark Heap is an English actor. He began his acting career in the 1980s as a member of the Medieval Players, a touring company performing medieval and early modern theatre, and featuring stilt-walking, juggling and puppetry...
, Simon Day
Simon Day
Simon Day is a British comedian most famous for his roles in the sketch show The Fast Show, sitcom Grass and a series of comedic adverts for Powergen.-Life and career:...
and Matthew Holness
Matthew Holness
Matthew Holness is an English comedian and actor from Whitstable in Kent. He attended Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury and read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he was vice-president of the Cambridge Footlights...
.
Production
The series was originally commissioned from Davies by Executive Producer Julie GardnerJulie Gardner
Julie Gardner is a Welsh television producer. Her most prominent work has been serving as executive producer on the 2005 revival of Doctor Who and its spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...
when she was working at Granada-owned London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
. However, after Gardner moved on to become Head of Drama at BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
in 2003, she commissioned Davies to write the drama for the BBC instead, as part of the deal that also saw him installed as the chief writer and Executive Producer of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
(in which Tennant later played the Doctor's tenth incarnation
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
), also being overseen by Gardner and made at BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
. It was Tennant's role as the younger Giacomo that led to Davies casting him in Doctor Who as the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
.
It was aired in the United States in two parts, 8 and 15 October 2006, with the full unedited British version released on DVD the following week, 17 October 2006. The programme also aired in Australia on the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, again edited into two parts.
DVD release
The serial was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the UK in June 2005, and in the United States in October 2006.
External links
- Casanova at the Red Production CompanyRed Production CompanyRed Production Company is a British independent television production company, formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, an experienced television producer who had worked on such prestige dramas as Our Friends in the North and Cracker...
website. - Casanova at the Masterpiece TheatreMasterpiece TheatreMasterpiece is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service on January 10, 1971, making it America's longest-running weekly prime time drama series. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions...
website.