AllMovie

Previously filmed in 1957, Kingsley Amis' first novel Lucky Jim served as the source for this sprightly and satirical two-hour drama special. Stephen Tompkinson headed the cast as Jim Dixon, a tweedy young lecturer at a provincial British university. While trying to curry favor with his self-enamored boss Neddy Welch (Robert Hardy), Jim also nervously pursued a romance with Christine Callaghan (Keeley Hawes), who happened to be the girlfriend of Welch's snotty son Bernard (Stephen Mangan). At the same time, fellow lecturer Margaret Peel (Helen McCrory), a neurotic with a pronounced suicidal streak, amorously pursued poor Jim all over the campus. In America, Lucky Jim was broadcast February 25, 2002 as part of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre anthology.