The Glittering Prizes is a British television drama by Frederic Raphael about the changing lives of a group of Cambridge students, starting in 1952 and following them through to middle age in the 1970s. It was first broadcast on BBC2 in January 1976 and later adapted into a novel of the same name.
Episode 1 âÂÂAn Early Lifeâ aired 21 January 1976<br> Plot outline: It is the mid-1950s, Adam Morris (Tom Conti) begins his career as a Cambridge undergraduate on a scholarship. Some of Adam's views about class and religious faith are tested by an aristocratic fellow undergraduate who shares his rooms. The series's characters are introduced by their involvement in a play by the Cambridge Footlights.
Episode 2 âÂÂA Love Lifeâ aired 28 January 1976<br> Plot outline: Still the mid fifties., Adam marries Barbara (Barbara Kellerman), despite parental opposition, whilst Joyce (Angela Down) finds herself pregnant by Alan (John Gregg) but marries Dan (Malcolm Stoddard).
Episode 3 âÂÂA Past Lifeâ aired 4 February 1976<br> Plot outline: The early 1960s, Adam (Tom Conti) has a bruising encounter with a famous writer Stephen Taylor (Eric Porter) who was once a fascist sympathiser but then goes on to write an Oscar-winning screenplay.
Episode 4 âÂÂA Country Lifeâ aired 11 February 1976<br> Plot outline: The mid sixties. Set at a boys' approved school Joyce (Angela Down) must finally face up to some unpleasant truths about her seemingly idyllic marriage to Dan (Malcolm Stoddard), now a teacher, when their old Cambridge friend Alan (John Gregg (actor)), now a media personality, drops in.
Episode 5 âÂÂAn Academic Lifeâ aired 18 February 1976<br> Plot Outline: the late sixties. Accusations of racism are made by student militants at a plate glass university featuring, Dinsdale Landen as Gavin Pope, Ray Smith (actor) as Austin Denny, Clive Merrison as Bill Bourne, Suzanne Stone as Joann Bourne, Tim Pigott-Smith as Tim Dent, Carolle Rousseau as Jeanne Dent.
Episode 6 âÂÂA Double Lifeâ aired 25 February 1976<br> Plot outline: ItâÂÂs 1976, Adam (Tom Conti), by now a famous writer, copes with the death of his father and tragedies in the personal lives of some old Cambridge friends.