Broadcast: June 1-22, 1980. Passion and politics -- those were the predominant drives in the life of Benjamin Disraeli. Ian McShane starred as Disraeli, the eternal romantic. The series follows his marriage to the wealthy Mary Anne Wyndham Lewis, who played a dramatic part in shaping his political career. The series spans more than 40 years of Disraeli's life as an outrageous novelist, dandy and spendthrift -- through his years as Britain's first Jewish prime minister and his close association with Queen Victoria. "When Disraeli was dying, the Queen had the streets of London paved with straw so that the clacking of horse's hoofs on the cobblestones would not disturb him."
