The Fragile Heart

The Fragile Heart
Genre	Medical drama
Created by	Paula Milne
Written by	Paula Milne
Directed by	Patrick Lau
Starring	Nigel Hawthorne Dearbhla Molloy Helen McCrory Dominic Mafham Robert Langdon Lloyd Sylvia Chang
Composer	Gavin Greenaway
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	3
Production
Producer	Brian Eastman
Cinematography	Nicholas D. Knowland
Editor	Neil Thomson
Running time	55 minutes (including adverts)
Production company	Carnival Film and Television
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	6 November (1996-11-06) – 20 November 1996 (1996-11-20)

The Fragile Heart is a BAFTA award-winning British medical drama television series created by Paula Milne and first aired on Channel 4 from 6 to 20 November 1996. The series nominated the Royal Television Society award for Best Drama Serial.

Story

Edgar Pascoe (Nigel Hawthorne) is a highly successful and charismatic cardiac surgeon. Pre-eminent in his field, he is the embodiment of the upper echelons of medicine: urbane, assured, supremely confident in his own abilities. But he is not infallible - either in the operating theatre or in his private life with his divided family.

Edgar's wife Lileth (Dearbhla Molloy), a dedicated and compassionate country GP, is increasingly drawn to the holistic arts of healing still practiced in the East, but scorned by purveyors of Western technology. As their professional ideals and methods clash, so inevitably does their relationship. Nicola (Helen McCrory) is Edgar's favoured child, ruthless and unscrupulous in her ambition to emulate her illustrious father.

But it is in China, heading a medical delegation, that Edgar is confronted by an ethical dilemma over the abuse of human rights and is forced into a painful moral awakening which will prove to affect every area of his life.

Cast

Actor	Role
Nigel Hawthorne	Dr. Edgar Pascoe
Dearbhla Molloy	Dr. Lileth Pascoe
Helen McCrory	Nicola Pascoe
Dominic Mafham	Daniel Pascoe
Robert Langford Lloyd	Dr. Maurice Denton
Sylvia Chang	Dr. Zhao Quing
Stewart Ong	Dr. Chen
Pao Han Lin	Wan Pu
John Hartley	Mrs. Youngman
Brenda Cavendish	Mrs. Youngman
Gareth Armstrong	Profusionist
Marian McLoughlin	Margaret Sedgely
Sebastian Abineri	Peter Sedgley
Ian Aspinall	Dilip
Adrian Pang	Lin Ling Tian
Simon Slater	Calder
Eamon Boland	Deviln
Terence Kemp	Mr. Bower-Kemp
Gordon Griffin	Flanders
Hi Ching	Hang
Leader Hawkins	Dr. Manville
Gabrielle Lloyd	Nancy Manville
Diana Payan	Mrs. Lawson
Vincent Marzello	Hugh Lyle

Award

• BAFTA Awards 1997
  • Won Best Actor : Nigel Hawthorne
  • Nominated Best Drama Serial : Brian Eastman, Patrick Lau, Paula Milne
  • Best Editing (Fiction/Entertainment) : Neil Thomson
• Banff Television Festival 1997
  • Won Best Mini-Series : Paula Milne, Carnival Film & Television
• Royal Television Society, UK 1997
  • Nominated Best Drama Serial
  • Nominated Best Actor - Female : Dearbhla Molloy
• London Film Critics' Circle
  • Nominated Actress of the Year : Helen McCrory

Home Media

The Fragile Heart was released on DVD on 8 October 2018.

External links

• The Fragile Heart at IMDb
• The Fragile Heart at the FilmAffinity