| Runtime: | 164 mins (3 parts) |
| Genre: | Period drama |
| Creator: | Russell T Davies |
| Starring: | David Tennant Peter O'Toole Rose Byrne Nina Sosanya Laura Fraser |
| Director: | Sheree Folkson |
| Composer: | Murray Gold |
| Channel: | BBC Three |
| Num Episodes: | 3 |
| List Episodes: |
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| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Producer: | Red Production Company Granada Television BBC Wales |
Casanova is a 2005 British television comedy drama serial, written by television scriptwriter Russell T Davies and directed by Sheree Folkson. Produced by Red Production Company for BBC Wales in association with Granada Television, the 3-episode series was first screened on digital television station BBC Three from 13 March, with a repeat on mainstream analogue network BBC One commencing 4 April.
Telling the story of the life of 18th century Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova, based on his own twelve-volume memoirs, the one-hour episodes star Peter O'Toole as the older Casanova looking back on his life and David Tennant as the younger version. Rose Byrne, Rupert Penry-Jones, Matt Lucas, Shaun Parkes, Nina Sosanya and Laura Fraser are also featured.
Comedians Matt Lucas, Mark Heap, Simon Day and Matthew Holness make cameo appearances.
The series was originally commissioned from Davies by Executive Producer Julie Gardner when she was working at Granada-owned London Weekend Television. However, after Gardner moved on to become Head of Drama at BBC Wales in 2003, she commissioned Davies to write the drama for the BBC instead, as part of the deal that also saw him installed as the chief writer and Executive Producer of Doctor Who (in which Tennant later played the Doctor's tenth incarnation), also being overseen by Gardner and made at BBC Wales. It was Tennant's role as Giacomo that led to Davies casting him in Doctor Who as the Tenth Doctor.
It was aired in the United States in two parts, 8 and 15 October 2006, with the full unedited British version released on DVD the following week, 17 October 2006. The programme also aired in Australia on the ABC, again edited into two parts.
The series was received warmly by critics on both sides of the Atlantic. In The New York Times, Anita Gates noted its "lively pace, a warm spirit, [and] contagious sense of fun."[1] The Guardian agreed, saying that "It was all agreeably amoral, and the actors really looked as if they were enjoying the sex scenes, which is nice because they usually look as if they'd rather be lancing each other's boils."[2]
The serial was released on DVD in the UK in May 2005,[3] and in the United States in October 2006.[4]