Significant elements of it were directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who handled the initial phases of the production, before Charles Sturridge carried on with the series.

It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles Ryder—including his friendship with the Flytes, a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion called Brideshead Castle.

Bridey points out that such a highly moral and staunchly Catholic woman with middle-class values would never sleep under the same roof as a couple "living in sin".

Bridey's comments stir extraordinary feelings of remorse and pain in Julia, revealing her long-standing Catholic guilt to Charles.

After years of self-imposed exile in Venice, the terminally ill Lord Marchmain decides to return home to die.

But as Lord Marchmain weakens to the point of semi-consciousness, he finally accepts the absolution conditionally pronounced by the priest by making the sign of the Cross.

[7] In April 1979, Lindsay-Hogg began principal photography on the islands of Gozo and Malta, where the sequences set in Morocco, Mexico, and Central America were filmed.

Four months of shooting then followed at locations in England, including Oxford and Castle Howard, which Granger and Lindsay-Hogg had selected as Brideshead.

[8] Lindsay-Hogg was replaced by relative novice Charles Sturridge, whose previous experience had been limited to directing episodes of Strangers, Crown Court and Coronation Street.

Sturridge and Granger agreed the six-hour script eliminated so much detail of Waugh's story, with its "telling nuances and provocative ideas" that its potency was compromised, and they set about expanding it to seven two-hour episodes.

Olivier's tight schedule required he start immediately, but his scenes had not yet been written, and Sturridge and Granger hurried to complete them so the actor would have at least a week to learn his dialogue.

Sturridge and Granger were anxious to complete the teleplay as soon as possible, and by the time the ten-day break for Christmas ended, the script was finished.

Granada Television had approved a larger budget for the extended format, and Sturridge scheduled the shooting of sequences in Venice, London and on board the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2.

During this period, he edited completed scenes and continued to hone the script, although ultimately John Mortimer received sole screen credit for it.