After their unceremonious arrival in Cairo, the Pringles are forced to stay in an old brothel. Guy struggles to find work when it emerges that an old adversary is now in charge of the English School. When Guy has to go to Alexandria, Harriet moves into 'Garden City' with Dobson. Naive young officer Simon Boulderstone goes in search of his brother Hugo and befriends Harriet, who is also introduced to eccentric Mr Liversage, flirtatious Edwina, and authoritative Mr Clifford. The group visit and ascend the Giza and Djoser pyramids. Harriet warns Boulderstone that the Egyptians dislike the British because the British have exploited them for years for control of the Suez Canal. Boulderstone doesn't understand until he, Harriet and Mortimer, a female soldier, visit a live sex show, which leaves him disgusted. Harriet and Boulderstone also meet the Hoopers, a rich couple whose son has just been killed by a land mine. As the Germans close in, Boulderstone must leave to fight.
Fortunes of War is a 1987 BBC miniseries adaptation of Olivia Manning's cycle of novels of the same name. English literature lecturer Guy Pringle and his wife Harriet navigate the early years of WWII in Bucharest. They become involved in anti-fascist politics and are forced to flee as the war escalates, crossing paths with various characters along the way.
Starring an ensemble cast led by Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, the seven-part series follows its source material relatively faithfully, with no major plot departures.
