Flashback Television

Starring James Purefoy as Beau Brummell, Hugh Bonneville as the Prince Regent, Phil Davis as Brummell’s man servant and Mathew Rhys as Lord Byron.

The film has been written by Simon Bent, based upon the book ‘The Ultimate Dandy’ written by Ian Kelly. Brummel was directed by Philippa Lowethorpe whose previous film The Other Bolyn Girl was also made for the BBC. And Produced by David Edgar.

Beau Brummell, was filmed in Bath and at Wilton House, near Salisbury. The film follows the rise and fall of the man who has been declared the 1st Celebrity. But Brummell wasn’t just famous for being famous, he created a style, a fashion for wearing suits and fast living, he even introduced the Waltz to England.

He is said to have liberated England’s Middle Classes from their Foppish past. Wigs, Breaches and ashen faces dusted with white powder were dispatched to history, he even managed to transform the outrageously overdressed Prince Regent into one of the world’s most stylish men. At the height of his fame he owned London’s smartest club, his coterie of Dandies dominated society and his luck on the gambling tables was astonishing, he won a fortune.

But it couldn’t last. Brummell’s luck began to fail him, convinced that his position in society was unassailable and that his connections to the Royalty would protect him from his mounting debts, he made the greatest mistake of his life in publicly humiliating his benefactor the Prince Regent.

“Who’s your Fat Friend” is the famous insult Brummell levelled at the Prince when he felt he had been ignored at a party. His fate was sealed and Brummell would spend the rest of his life in wretched exile, escaping those who were chasing his debts and dreaming of the days when he was the Prince of Piccadilly and Saville Row.

Beau Brummell will be broadcast on BBC Four in June 2006 as part of a season titled “The Century that Made Us”.