Returning home on a train from vacation, beautiful young socialite Iris Carr is befriended by an Englishwoman she knows only as "Miss Froy." When Iris falls asleep she awakens to find Miss Froy missing and her fellow passengers denying she ever existed. Is Iris going mad or did the encounter really take place?
MASTERPIECE puts a new spin on this familiar story in "The Lady Vanishes," adapted from Ethel Lina White's 1936 novel "The Wheel Spins," filmed by Alfred Hitchcock. The MASTERPIECE/BBC co-production is set against the tense backdrop of the Balkans of the 1930s and deftly weaves together the stories of a colorful trainload of characters brought to life by a stellar international cast.
It is 1931. Iris (Tuppence Middleton, INSPECTOR LEWIS) is the darling of her social circle. While on holiday with friends in the Balkans, Iris decides to escape her friends' raucous partying and travel home to London alone. Her expectations of peace are short-lived when she faints on the platform of the railway station in the scorching heat. She wakes in time to be rushed on to the train but with a pounding head and the feeling of being on the verge of a dream.
Finally seated, Iris is comforted by Miss Froy (Selina Cadell, DOC MARTIN), whose tweed suit and bookish looks belie a jovial and adventurous spirit. Comfort soon turns to horror when Miss Froy mysteriously disappears. With only the support of the infatuated young engineer Max Hare (Tom Hughes, SILK), Iris maintains the conviction that Miss Froy has somehow been abducted. But who would want to snatch a seemingly harmless Englishwoman?
As fellow passengers refute Iris' story and threatening figures emerge to disprove Miss Froy's existence, Iris' unswerving certitude takes on the appearance of madness, and she finds herself struggling for her sanity—and for her life.
Other members of the cast include Keeley Hawes ("Upstairs Downstairs") as the cynical mistress of the ambitious Sir Peveril (Julian Rhind-Tutt, "Any Human Heart"), Danish actress Benedikte Hansen as the sinister Baroness, and Gemma Jones ("Bridget Jones' Diary") and Stephanie Cole (DOC MARTIN) as spinsterly sisters yearning to get home to their garden.
MASTERPIECE is on Facebook, and you can follow @masterpiecepbs on Twitter.
CREDITS:
A BBC/MASTERPIECE co-production, adapted by Fiona Seres from the novel "The Wheel Spins" by Ethel Lina White. It was directed by Diarmuid Lawrence ("Little Dorrit"). The producer is Ann Tricklebank. The executive producers are Anne Pivcevic for the BBC and Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE.
The Lady Vanishes Preview
"See a preview of "The Lady Vanishes" on PBS's MASTERPIECE."
A Scene from The Lady Vanishes
"Watch a scene from The Lady Vanishes before it airs Sunday
