# Lost Empires > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lost_Empires > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lost_Empires.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Empires > Source revision: 1345990743 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Other uses}} {{Infobox television | image = Lost Empires.jpg | caption = | director = [Alan Grint](/source/Alan_Grint) | producer = | based_on = {{based on|''[Lost Empires](/source/Lost_Empires_(novel))'' |[J.B. Priestley](/source/J.B._Priestley)}} | writer = [Ian Curteis](/source/Ian_Curteis) | narrator = | starring = {{ubl|[Colin Firth](/source/Colin_Firth)|[Laurence Olivier](/source/Laurence_Olivier)|[Pamela Stephenson](/source/Pamela_Stephenson)}} | music = | cinematography = | editor = | company = [Granada Television](/source/Granada_Television){{Cite news |title=Company credits for "Lost Empires" |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090476/companycredits |work=IMDB}} | network = [ITV](/source/ITV_(TV_network)) | first_aired = {{Start date|1986|10|24|df=y}} | last_aired = {{End date|1986|12|05|df=y}} | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = }} '''''Lost Empires''''' is a 1986 television [miniseries](/source/miniseries) adaptation of [J. B. Priestley](/source/J._B._Priestley)'s 1965 [novel of the same name](/source/Lost_Empires_(novel)) and starred [Colin Firth](/source/Colin_Firth), [John Castle](/source/John_Castle) and [Laurence Olivier](/source/Laurence_Olivier). Produced by [Granada Television](/source/Granada_Television), it was shown as a serial, and premiered on the UK's [ITV](/source/ITV_(TV_network)) network between 24 October and 5 December 1986. ==Plot== After the death of his mother, Richard Herncastle (Colin Firth) is offered a job by his maternal uncle. Nick Ollanton is a stage [conjurer](/source/Magic_(illusion)) in [variety theatre](/source/variety_theatre) and Richard joins the act where he meets the other members of the team and the rest of the acts on the bill as they travel around Britain appearing at the Empires, the old variety theatres that have since vanished. He becomes our eyes as he experiences the last few months of peace before [World War I](/source/World_War_I) breaks out and changes the world forever. During the course of the seven episodes (eight hours), Firth's character, young Richard Herncastle, sees the "whole wide world" from backstage at the [music hall](/source/music_hall) variety shows with which the magic act travels, just as his uncle Nick ([John Castle](/source/John_Castle)) has promised—hilarity, beauty, love, lust, fear, despair. Richard [comes of age](/source/coming_of_age) just as the world enters the fateful year of 1914—the outbreak of World War I, when the greatest of all disappearing acts becomes imminent: the disappearance of millions. The series has the second to last appearance of Olivier as a fading comedian named Harry Burrard, who has long since lost his audience and his comic abilities. Harry should have retired years before, however he has nowhere else to go and his brain is collapsing into [paranoia](/source/paranoia). The role is a sort of older version of Olivier's Archie Rice, from ''[The Entertainer](/source/The_Entertainer_(1960_film))'' (1960). ==Cast== *[Colin Firth](/source/Colin_Firth) as Richard Herncastle *[John Castle](/source/John_Castle) as Nick Ollanton *[Gillian Bevan](/source/Gillian_Bevan) as Cissie Mapes *[Beatie Edney](/source/Beatie_Edney) as Nancy Ellis *[Laurence Olivier](/source/Laurence_Olivier) as Harry Burrard *[Carmen du Sautoy](/source/Carmen_du_Sautoy) as Julie Blane *[Pamela Stephenson](/source/Pamela_Stephenson) as Lilly Farris *[Jim Carter](/source/Jim_Carter_(actor)) as Inspector Crabbe ==Awards== The series was nominated for six [Television BAFTA Awards](/source/British_Academy_Television_Awards) including Best Costume Design, Best Make-up. In the US Olivier received an [Emmy Award](/source/Emmy_Award) nomination for [Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie](/source/Primetime_Emmy_Award_for_Outstanding_Supporting_Actor_-_Miniseries_or_a_Movie). ==Video and DVD== The series has been released on both VHS and DVD format. ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0090476|title=Lost Empires}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} *[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw215692/Lost-Empires?LinkID=mp130268&role=sit&rNo=0 Photograph of cast.] {{J. B. Priestley}} {{Authority control}} Category:1986 British television series debuts Category:1986 British television series endings Category:1980s British drama television series Category:Television series set in 1914 Category:Historical television series Category:ITV television dramas Category:1980s British television miniseries Category:Television series by ITV Studios Category:Television shows produced by Granada Television Category:English-language British television shows Category:Television shows set in England Category:Television series about World War I {{UK-tv-prog-stub}} Category:Television series set in the 1910s --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lost Empires](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Empires) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Empires?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.