An
Englishman Abroad was a 1983 BBC television drama, based on the true story of a
chance meeting of an actress,Coral Browne, with Guy Burgess, one of the famous
group of Cambridge spies who worked for the Soviet Union whilst with MI6.
Filmed in Glasgow and Dundee in the early 1980s, the setting is Moscow in 1958,
to which Burgess had fled following MI6 detection of his treason. Burgess meets
Browne in a theatre dressing room and charms her. Later on she is invited to his
Moscow flat to measure him for some clothes that he would like ordered from his
London tailors.
The characterisation of Burgess by Alan Bates has been held in high acclaim.
This is the story of a very English Englishman trying to ignore his homesickness
for the country he has betrayed while also trying to cope with post-Stalinist
Russian life and convince himself that it was all worthwhile.
Coral Browne stars as herself. The production was written by Alan Bennett and
directed by John Schlesinger. Both Browne and Bates were winners of the BAFTA
awards for acting for their roles in this production.
Recorded from VHS, compared to a retail DVD, the quality is around 6/10
(Completely Watchable!)
