Seasons & Episodes
Season 1
13 episodes
E01
1927
The promise of a dazzling career at the Bar beckons Lewis Eliot to London; but his infatuation with the capricious Sheila Knight unsettles his plans for the future.
E02
1931
His health restored, Lewis Eliot returns to London to resume his career at the Bar. He re-contacts Sheila Knight , but is shocked to learn she is in love with another man.
E03
1935
Lewis Eliot leaves the bar and takes up a part-time post at Francis Getliffe 's Cambridge college. When his friend Roy Calvert is considered for a Fellowship, Eliot gains his first insight into the world of college politics.
E04
London 1936
A political scandal threatens the March family. Lewis Eliot 's marriage, meanwhile, comes under pressure from a different quarter.
E05
1937
The Master of Lewis Eliot 's Cambridge college lies dying. Behind the facade of civilised learning, 13 colleagues battle to choose his successor.
E06
Spring 1939
As war looms, Lewis Eliot is drafted into Whitehall. Simultaneously he faces crises in the personal lives of his wife Sheila and his intimate friend Roy Calvert.
E07
London 1941
A wartime civil servant, Lewis Eliot is introduced to the vivacious Margaret Davidson. As their relationship develops he discovers that he is still haunted by the memory of his first wife.
E08
1944
Lewis Eliot is caught up in the race to produce the British atomic bomb. For the scientists at Barford, success is in sight - but it will not be achieved without risk.
E09
1945
The moral implications of the Hiroshima bomb disturb the scientific community throughout the world. Lewis Eliot 's ambitious brother, Martin, seizes upon the divisions at Barford to further his own career.
E10
1946
Lewis Eliot is reintroduced to Margaret Davidson , who is now married. He discovers that his feelings for her have not diminished in the years since their affair.
E11
1955
At the outset of the Cold War, Lewis Eliot allies himself to the cause of nuclear disarmament and to the ambitions of a young and idealistic Tory minister, Roger Quaife.
E12
1957
Roger Quaife 's political ambitions are jeopardised by a private scandal -and Lewis Eliot finds his own career is also placed at risk.
E13
1964
Lewis Eliot has renounced his career in Whitehall and become a successful writer. The offer of a post in the new Labour government tempts him back to political life.
Cast
Shaughan Seymour
as Lewis Eliot
Cherie Lunghi
as Margaret Eliot
Nigel Havers
as Roy Calvert
Peter Sallis
as Leonard March
Anthony Hopkins
as Roger Quaife
Paul Hastings
as Francis Getliffe
Tom Wilkinson
as George Passant
