The story is set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Becky Sharp, a poor orphan girl, schemes for money and position. Her most-used stepladder is her old school friend, Amelia Sedley. Both women marry soldiers, and both of them are affected by the Battle of Waterloo.
Vanity Fair (1987) is a BBC Pebble Mill Production consisting of sixteen 35-minute episodes. It is an adaptation of the 1848 novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. The serial was shot on location and in studio. Locations included Winchester and Thetford. Virtually all the interiors were shot in Studio A at Pebble Mill.
The series was nominated for four BAFTA Awards- David Bushell for Best Video Lighting, Joyce Hawkins for Best Costume Design, Paul Woolston for Best Video Cameraman, Gavin Davies for Best Design.
The series screenplay was written by Alexander Baron, directed by Diarmuid Lawrence and Michael Owen Morris and stars Eve Matheson as Becky Sharp, Rebecca Saire as Amelia Sedley, Simon Dormandy as William Dobbin, Jack Klaff as Rawdon Crawley, David Swift as Mr. Sedley, James Saxon as Joseph 'Jos' Sedley, Gillian Raine as Mrs. Sedley, Benedict Taylor as George Osborne, Shaughan Seymour as Pitt Crawley, Philippa Urquhart as Miss Briggs and Freddie Jones as Sir Pitt Crawley. Amanda Murray appeared as Ann Dobbin in three episodes.