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The Importance of Being Oscar

A star-studded account of Oscar Wilde’s glittering and controversial career before his trial for homosexual crimes and tragic fall from grace.

A star-studded account of Oscar Wilde’s glittering and controversial career before his trial for homosexual crimes and tragic fall from grace.

Highlights from Oscar’s brilliant comedies such as The Importance of Being Earnest and stories such as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Canterville Ghost are adapted and performed by a cast including Freddie Fox, Claire Skinner, Anna Chancellor and James Fleet. Wilde enthusiasts and experts, including Stephen Fry, Wilde’s grandson Merlin Holland and his latest biographers, provide revelatory accounts of how his own life informed his work. His Irish roots, his early career, his marriage and the importance of women as well as men in his life all combine in a complex and compelling characterisation and celebration that adds flesh to the bones of a man who is too often caricatured.

1 hour, 24 minutes

Last on

Sun 1 May 202222:10

Music Played

  • Tigran Hamasyan

    The American

  • Jaga Jazzist

    Toccata (Live)

  • Erik Satie

    Lent

  • Erik Satie

    Lent

  • Tigran Hamasyan

    New Baroque

  • Tigran Hamasyan

    Markos and Markos

  • Michael Nyman

    Knowing the Ropes

Credits

RoleContributor
Lady BracknellAnna Chancellor
Virginia, Hester Worsley, Cecily, Lady WindermereAnna Devlin
Canterville Ghost, Basil HallwardJames Fleet
Jokannen, Dorian Gray, Lord GoringFreddie Fox
Young Oscar Wilde, Vivian, Bunthorne, Jack Worthing, Lord WindermereBen Lloyd-Hughes
Salome, Mrs Allonby, Gwendolyn, Lady ChilternAlice Orr-Ewing
Oscar WildeNicholas Rowe
Herodias, Mrs Arbuthnot, Mrs ErlynneClaire Skinner
Herod, Cyril, Lord Illingworth, Algernon, Robert Chiltern, Darlington, Henry WottonEd Stoppard
DirectorRichard Curson Smith
Executive ProducerFranny Moyle

Broadcasts