Autumn, 1913: on the eve of the Great War, a small party of lords and ladies gather at the Hertfordshire estate of Sir Randolph Nettleby. A code of propriety governs all: dress, breakfast, relations with the estate's peasants, courtship, shooting, adultery. Lionel Stephens, who is courting Sir Randolph's daughter, gets into a shooting competition with Lord Gilbert Hartlip; Lord Gilbert's wife carries on discreet affairs; a pamphleteer circles the estate calling for no more killing, and Sir Robert's grandson hopes to protect a wild duck he's befriended. A way of life is ending: Lord Gilbert's violation of the gentlemen's code suggests internal rot as the real world presses in.

Starring:

Aharon Ipale, Ann Castle, Barry Jackson, Cheryl Campbell, Daniel Chatto, Daniel Moynihan, Dorothy Tutin, Edward Fox, Frank Windsor, Gordon Jackson, Jack May, James Mason, John Gielgud, John J Carney, Jonathan Lacey, Joris Stuyck, Judi Bowker, Lockwood West, Mia Fothergill, Patrick O'Connell, Rebecca Saire, Richard Leech, Robert Hardy, Rupert Frazer, Sar

Genre:

Drama, Romance