Excellent cast, superbly acted, very well written and directed. I particularly loved the performances of Derek Jacobi, Sian Phillips and Brian Blessed. An excellent production by the BBC, as usual. A comment about the DVD set. The sound on the DVD's is very unequalized. One minute you can barely hear the actors, the next you are being blown away by music and/or background noise. Other than this annoyance, the DVD translation is excellent. Also, look for some then lesser known actors and actresses who are stars now. I do not know how they pulled this off, but I am very glad that they did. Also, the DVD extras are interesting, including scenes from the unfinished version from the 1930's or 1940's.