The Picture of Dorian Gray (1976 TV) The Picture of Dorian Gray (1976 TV) The Picture of Dorian Gray is a 1976 BBC video-taped production which formed part of the "Play of the Month" anthology series. It stars Peter Firth, Jeremy Brett, and John Gielgud. A 100-minute adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by John Osborne, it was first broadcast on 19 September 1976. This production was a critical success at the time of its first screening. In 2009 "The Times" called it the "most Wildean" adaptation of the novel, boasting "perhaps the best Dorian" and mentioning that John Gielgud "steals the show,
Dorian, an Imitation and Diana, Princess of Wales, particularly over the time period from June 1981, the time of the Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, up to 1997, the year of Princess Diana's death. The novel adheres closely to Wilde's original in its overall plot, with retaining the names of the key characters Dorian Gray, Henry Wootton, and Basil Hallward (with Hallward receiving the short nickname 'Baz'). Updates in Self's novel compared to the Wilde original include the following: Dorian, an Imitation Dorian, an Imitation is a British novel by Will Self. The book is a modern take