The Clandestine Marriage
Synopsis
However, Betsy's sister Fanny, who has secretly married her father's clerk, Lovewell, by whom she is pregnant, quickly becomes the object of affection not only of Sir John but of his elderly father. Betsy is furious, as is her aunt Mrs Heidleberg, who rules her brother and his household with a rod of iron. Fanny desperately tries to stave off the attentions of both men while her father secretly agrees to exchange one daughter for the other.
Soon the entire company is at loggerheads and cross purposes, Fanny's secret wedding is revealed, and all the while the clock ticks towards the wedding, which must take place if both families are not to loose face.
This exuberant, sexy and cheerfully astringent comedy of errors, where genuine heartache and true love jostle with lust and greed, is set against the glories of an English country house in high summer and is as sharply relevant today as ever.
Details
- Year
- 1999
- Type of film
- Features
- Format
- 35mm Kodak
- Director
-
Christopher Miles
- Producer
- Andrew Warren
- Director of Photography
- Denis Crossan BSC
- Principal cast
- Nigel Hawthorne, Joan Collins, Timothy Spall, Tom Hollander, Natasha Little, Paul Nicholls, Emma Chambers
- Screen Writer
- Trevor Bentham
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
Portman Productions Ltd 167 Wardour Street London W1V 3TA Tel: 020 7468 3456 Fax: 020 7468 3469
Sales Company
Portman Entertainment Ltd as Production Company
Page updates
This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.
See also
You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Director: Akporé Uzoh
Year: 2025
The aftermath of a sexual assault (rape). Exploring the deep-felt consequences for all involved. At its heart an epic story of a couple's fight for the survival of their love.

Director: Navid Khonsari, Vassiliki Khonsari
Year: 2027
Immerse yourself as a dark-web hacker in LILI, a neo-noir interactive adaptation of Macbeth set in contemporary Iran. As Lili plots a murder to secure her husband's rise in the militia, your covert actions expose the machinery of surveillance, power, and violence in a regime where nothing stays hidden.

Director: Fireproof Games
Year: 2025
Ghost Town is a single player VR puzzle-adventure set in 1980s Britian from the makers of The Room. Life has been going well for Edith. The paranormal detective agency she runs with her flatmate has never been busier, she’s almost up-to-date with her rent and the ghosts in her bathroom mirror have been less demanding than usual. But Edith’s world is turned upside down when her brother goes missing and a mysterious new lead promises to reveal clues of his whereabouts. Edith’s journey begins with a visit to a remote Scottish island in the hope a gifted clairvoyant can provide some much-needed answers.