Brideshead Revisited (1981) (Episode 9)

Part 9 of 11 of the period drama. With Celia seasick on the voyage home to England, Charles and Julia soon become lovers on board. But it seems that their affair is not as secret as they believed, as Charles discovers when he bumps into old friend Anthony Blanche at his art exhibition. And then there is Julia's husband Rex Mottram, who resides at Brideshead, and is not so keen to lose his wife when she is a link to his political ambitions. Starring Jeremy Irons, Diana Quick, Charles Keating, Nickolas Grace, Jane Asher, David Howey, Ronald Fraser, Brian Oulton, Anthony Higginson, Michael Haughey, Malcolm Raeburn, Roger Milner, Paul Clayton, Mark Elwes, Martin Matthews, Kenneth Midwood, Paul Greenhalgh, Sally Bazely and Marella Oppenheim. A slower episode than the others, this sees Charles and Julia cheat on their spouses and embark upon a affair. What is remarkable about this series however is how it managed to get made at all, what with industrial strikes, going overbudget, scriptwriter changes, as well as the fact it stretched into 3 years in the making. Because of that, cast contracts had to be renegotiated. This proved particularly tricky when Jeremy Irons discovered that makers were casting for the film The French Lieutenant's Woman and wanted to audition for it. Faced with the prospect of the lead star walking with two thirds of the series already filmed, they relented and agreed to allow time off for him to film The French Lieutenant's Woman as long as he agreed to stay with the series. That's how close Brideshead Revisited came to disaster, which makes it's success on the small screen all the more remarkable. Please note that this episode contains a sex scene and nudity.