The acclaimed British adaptation of War and Peace with Paul Dano, Lily James, James Norton and Gillian Anderson is being shown on Russia's most popular "First Channel".  There has been so much interest in this and in the immortal works of Leo Tolstoy, that many Russians have already watched the adaptation online and are sharing their impressions.The BBC series was written by the well known, Welsh born writer, Andrew Davis and directed by Tom Harper. The action is concentrated around the fate of Pierre Bezukhov (Paul Dano), Andrei Bolkonsky (James Norton) and Natasha Rostova (Lily James).
(As a rule, many Russian male names end in 'ov' and female names end in 'ova'. )

Shooting this epic took two and a half years and was the most expensive project that the BBC had ever undertaken. Thirty tons of snow was imported for the winter scenes and 180 people were employed on costumes and uniforms.

This famous Tolstoy novel has been portrayed repeatedly in both Russia and the rest of the world. Other famous adaptations were in 1957, which starred Audrey Hepburn, 1965 when the famous Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk both directed the film and starred in it, as Bezukhov and the other British adaptation was in 1972, where Bezukhov was played by Anthony Hopkins.