All Passion Spent - DVD

“When can one please oneself if not in old age?”

Oscar-winning stage and screen veteran Wendy Hiller brings characteristic subtlety, grace and quiet determination to the role of a recently widowed woman who intends to relish her newfound freedom in this acclaimed three-part drama. Adapting Vita Sackville-West’s classic story, All Passion Spent received four BAFTA nominations and co-stars Harry Andrews, Maurice Denham, Phyllis Calvert, Graham Crowden and Geoffrey Bayldon.

Lady Slane sits beside the body of her husband in a bedroom of their elegant home. The handsome, distinguished Henry Holland, Prime Minister, Viceroy of India and Earl of Slane, has died at the age of 94. As her children ponder what is to be done with mother, 85-year-old Lady Slane realises that for the first time in her life, she is free to live where, and how, she chooses. And after more than half a century as a dutiful and loving wife, she revels in her new-found independence and the company of new friends... despite the wishes of her family

EPISODE ONE
Lord Slane is dead. After a lifetime spent supporting his career as Viceroy of India, Prime Minister and elder statesman, Lady Slane is free at last to do as she pleases. Downstairs her children are busily deciding her future, assuming gracious compliance; but Lady Slane plans to reassert her independence.
Original BBC2 Transmission 9 December 1986

EPISODE TWO
Lady Slane has escaped the clutches of her family. Now the tenant of Mr Bucktrout’s house at Hampstead, she sets about creating a new home for herself and Genoux. An unexpected visitor, however, disturbs the calm by confronting Lady Slane with the errors of her past.
Original BBC2 Transmission 16 December 1986

EPISODE THREE
After more than half a century as a dutiful and loving wife, Lady Slane revels in the company of her new-found friends. But FitzGeorge has one last surprise in store for her, leaving a problem which only she can resolve.
Original BBC2 Transmission 23 December 1986