Program Title
The Moonstone (1997)

Based On
Wilkie Collins novel

Adapted By
Kevin Elyot

Number of Episodes:
1

Description
The Moonstone, a sacred Hindu diamond, was stolen from the forehead of the Moon-God in its Brahmin shrine by John Herncastle in 1799. The stone is said to be cursed if removed from its shrine. In June 1846, John visits his sister, Lady Julia Verinder, to wish his niece, Rachel, a happy birthday, but Lady Julia refuses to see him. Two years later and the family are preparing to celebrate Rachel's birthday. They are awaiting the arrival of Franklin Blake, Lady Verinder's nephew-a maverick, with a penchant for ladies and spending too much. Blake reveals that he has the Moonstone in his possession which John Herncastle has bequeathed to Rachel in his will, to be given her on her birthday, the year after his death. Friendship and love blossom between the beautiful Rachel and Blake, and on her birthday she is given her jewel. Blake agrees to mount it for her in order that she can wear it for the evening's celebrations. Inevitably, the jewel is found missing the following morning and, strangely, Rachel is unwilling to talk to anybody about the theft. Rachel moves to London and is taken in by Mr. Bruff, that family's lawyer and friend. Blake is heartbroken and confused as to why her behavior towards him is so creul. Eventually, Bruff arranges a surprise meeting between the two and Blake discovers that Rachel thinks she witnessed him stealing the diamond. She cannot believe the audacity at insisting that he has no recollection of it whatever. How can he lie to her? Blake is determined to prove his innocence and leaves her distraught in order to pursue the real truth behind the theft, once and for all.


Original broadcast date
1997-11-02

Cast	Characters
Keeley Hawes	Rachel Verinder
Greg Wise	Franklin Blake
Patricia Hodge	Lady Julia Verinder
Peter Jeffrey	Mr. Bruff
Antony Sher	Sergeant Cuff
Anton Lesser	Ezra Jennings
Peter Vaughan	Gabriel Betteredge
Lesley Sharp	Rosanna Spearman
Scott Handy	Godfrey Ablewhite
Terrence Hardiman	Colonel Sir John Herncastle
Janet Henfrey	Mrs. Yolland
Paul Brooke	Dr. Candy

Credits
Executive Producer: George Faber
Producer: Chris Parr
Director: Robert Bierman

Intro
THE MOONSTONE/Intro by Russell Baker

Whoever owns the Moonstone lives under threat of death. It's a giant yellow diamond stolen from the statue of an Indian god whose worshippers will kill to get it back.

It was pried out of the statue's forehead with the bloody dagger of an English army officer. As a young man, he was unscrupulous, even murderous.

Now a generation has passed and age -- or maybe the curse of the moonstone -- has left him embittered and so hateful that his own sister won't have him in the house.

He is now bent on getting revenge on a society that's shunned him. How he seeks that revenge is the subject of tonight's story.

"The Moonstone" is a long, beautifully written novel by Wilkie Collins. It was published in 1868, and was the first full-length detective story in English. Which makes it a literary landmark.

It came twenty years before Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, and it invented elements of the mystery story that are still with us today.

There is the brilliant detective, a group of people in a great country house, a butler, an ominous patch of real estate -- quicksand in this case -- the full menu we've come to expect of a good mystery from Sherlock Holmes to Columbo.

Wilkie Collins was born in 1824, son of a well-to-do landscape painter. Close friend of Charles Dickens. Inherited enough money to live well.

He certainly lived unconventionally. He had two long-term mistresses. One was buried beside him. The other, who was the mother of his children, tended their grave.

He's said to have been so tireless in the pursuit of pleasure that he developed painful rheumatic gout.

To ease the pain he took large quantities of opium. When he was writing the Moonstone, his experience with opium came in handy.

Now, The Moonstone.





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