Hawking (2004) (TV)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Philip Martin

Writer:

Peter Moffat (writer)

Release Date:

13 April 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

The story of the search for the beginning of time.

Plot Keywords:

Genius | Illness | Handicapped | Physics

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Benedict Cumberbatch	...	Stephen Hawking
Michael Brandon	...	Arno Penzias
Tom Hodgkins	...	Bob Wilson
Lisa Dillon	...	Jane Wilde
Phoebe Nicholls	...	Isobel Hawking
Adam Godley	...	Frank Hawking
Peter Firth	...	Sir Fred Hoyle
Tom Ward	...	Roger Penrose
John Sessions	...	Dennis Sciama
Rohan Siva	...	Jayant Narlikar
Matthew Marsh	...	Dr. John Holloway
Anastasia Hille	...	Nurse Susan McClean
Bertie Carvel	...	George Ellis
Christian Rubeck	...	Interviewer / Reporter (as Christian Pedersen)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sebastian Armesto	...	Robert Silkin
Charlie Beall	...	Hugh
Che Cartwright	...	Guildenstern
Rory Copus	...	Edgar
Deirdre Costello	...	Barmaid
Alice Eve	...	Martha Guthrie
Carolina Giammetta	...	Lidia Sciama
Jeanie Gold	...	Fur Lady
Anthony Howell	...	Hamlet
Philip McGinley	...	Chris
David McKail	...	Frink
Leon Ockenden	...	Rosencrantz
Daniel Pape	...	TV Producer
Linda Spurrier	...	Train Passenger
James Warrior	...	Cab Driver
Mark Wells	...	Cyclist #1

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-G | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Quotes:

Stephen Hawking: We are very very small. But we are profoundly capable of very very big things.

Excellent!

I have just seen this excellent film.

It begins with a character resembling Stephen Hawking slouching in a deep armchair. But, then he gets up and walks!!! This is the basis of the film. We are all familiar with Stephen Hawkign as he is today, but this film will now tell us the story of the man and his ideas before he became the the icon he is today.

I really enjoyed this film - both as portrait of a brave man and a brief description of the development of the big bang theory and some of it's underlying concepts.

Among the cast I especially enjoyed Michael Brandon as one of the two Bell Labs scientists who first discovered the sound of the creation of the universe. However, I do agree with several other comments here that the section about his German origin was confusing and unnecessary.

The film is very much aware of the fact that it will be compared with "A beautiful mind" - it even refers to the "beautiful" concept among scientists. In many ways I much prefer this portrait of a much more sympathetic beautiful mind.