A a young Russian doctor named Yury falls deeply in love with Lara, a nurse who cares for him after he is wounded in World War I. But the outbreak of the Russian Revolution forces them to part. Yury returns home to his wife, Tonya, and Lara, convinced that her own husband, Pasha, has been killed, returns to her daughter.
Scottish actor Hans Matheson (Mists of Avalon) stars as the dreamy poet-physician Yury Zhivago, with Keira Knightley (Pride and Prejudice) as the love of his life, Lara Antipova and Sam Neill (The Piano) as Victor Komarovsky, Lara’s seducer and stalker — a political chameleon who comes out on top no matter who is in power.
The story begins in Tsarist Russia in the early 1900s and is set primarily against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Russian Civil War of 1918–1921.
The 2 episode mini-series was adapted by Andrew Davies and is based on the 1957 novel of the same title by Boris Pasternak.
Shown on PBS Masterpiece Theatre.
Starring Sam Neill, Kiera Knightley, Alexandra Maria Lara, Hans Matheson.
Not rated.