Any Human Heart ... Will More Than Do

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A trio of great British actors play the different life stages of Logan Mountstuart, the hero of William Boyd's novel about a writer, lover, art dealer, and spy living by his wits in the tumultuous 20th century. Masterpiece Classic presents a three-part adaptation of this tale of adventure, romance, and heartbreak on Any Human Heart airing Sundays, February 13, 20, and 27 on your local PBS stations.

Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent stars as Mountstuart in his dotage, with Matthew Macfadyen (you may remember him as Mr. Darcy in the film version Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice) as the hero in his prime and Sam Claflin as the eager seducer in his impetuous youth. Adapted by Boyd, the production was hailed as "an absolute treat" by The Guardian during its recent UK broadcast. The review celebrated the series as "a witty, touching, intimate romp through one man's life, and through a big chunk of the 20th century, directed with panache, and with fine performances wherever you look."

Joining the chorus of praise, The Times of London wrote, "this is the story of one extraordinary everyman, whose appeal on the page — and now on the screen — lies in his humanity, and his fallibility." Any Human Heart also stars Hayley Atwell (who appeared in The Duchess and as Julia Flyte in the new film version of Brideshead Revisited), Kim Cattrall, Gillian Anderson, Tom Hollander, Ed Stoppard, Samuel West, and Richard Schiff.

Mountstuart's trajectory takes him to Paris in the '20s, the Spanish Civil War in the '30s, British intelligence in the '40s, the New York art scene in the '50s, a left-wing terrorist cell in the '70s ... and that's not all. Along the way he befriends Ernest Hemingway and Ian Fleming, meets Winston Churchill, and becomes a favorite of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the abdicated British king and his controversial American wife.

But his most intense relationships are with a succession of women that he loves, marries, or otherwise gets to know. Any Human Heart takes its title from Henry James's short story Louisa Pallant, which opens: "Never say you know the last word about any human heart." Indeed, the hearts that Mountstuart wins and loses are as inscrutable as the great currents of history that sweep him up and carry him on his remarkable life's journey.

Pictured above are Matthew MacFayden and Hayley Atwell .

The first chapter of Louisa Pallant written 1890 by Henry James begins:

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Any Human Heart ... Will More Than Do

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