They can be forgiven for being a tad testy at the comparisons that might be made by some between a 13-hour TV series and a film that runs for two hours and 10 minutes.

Enough comparisons will still be made between the performances of relative unknowns Ben Whishaw as Sebastian Flyte, Matthew Goode (Charles Ryder) and Hayley Atwell (Julia Flyte) in the roles which established the careers of Anthony Andrew, Jeremy Irons and Diana Quick back in 1981.

But 27 years is long enough, surely, for those versions to have faded in the minds of older cinema-goers, enough at least to give someone else's interpretation a fair viewing. Younger movie fans with a taste for fabulous interiors, foppish hair-dos, lush landscapes and stars whose style ranges from the "wasted of Earls Court" look of Whishaw to the Rupert Everett-meets-Hugh Grant of Goode will probably be happy.

Brideshead Revisited, although very stylish, is about much more. Producers have concentrated on the love triangle between Charles, middle-class and unloved, who meets the decadent young toff Sebastian at Oxford. Flyte claims to detest his home, Brideshead, and reject his family's hardcore Catholicism, strictly enforced by his mother (the magnificently restrained and icy Emma Thompson).

Charles visits and falls in love with both Brideshead and Julia, Charles's sister. She is destined to marry a Catholic, not the likes of an atheist from the obscure London middle-classes.

The scene is set for intense emotional rivalry, the testing of faith versus the call of the heart, and a long hard look at whether we're put on earth to be reasonably good and happy, or for some even higher purpose – Lady Marchmain's ideal of preparing ourselves for the hereafter by living in a permanent state of grace and self-denial.

An opening weekend at 33 cinemas in New York and Los Angeles showed "strong" audiences, 70-80 per cent approval by critics (with a couple of vociferous nay-sayers in the New York papers) and, interestingly, a high percentage of audiences who had either read the book or seen the ITV series long ago.

Yorkshire never looked so resplendent as it does here, and yesterday was another such glorious scene at Castle Howard, when producers and some of the cast came north again to take tea on the South Lawn of the stately pile, following a press preview of the movie.

"Miramax (the Hollywood big wheels who've partly bankrolled the film) liked what we did with Mrs Brown," says co-producer Robert Bernstein from Edinburgh-based Ecosse Films.

"So when we insisted on using younger actors who were not well-known, they trusted us. We wanted to make stars of our own, not have older actors foisted upon us who were known for other parts."

Evelyn Waugh's estate and family approved both the casting and all changes made in the story, including Julia's journey to Venice with Charles and Sebastian, culminating in a fateful kiss.

"We wanted to emphasise the love triangle a bit more, as in the book Julia is only around at the beginning and end. We also wanted to focus strongly on the Catholicism, as Lady Marchmain's brand of faith is what we'd call fundamentalist today – a theme that has a very modern resonance."

Hayley Atwell found at first that she could find no common ground between herself and Julia, the daughter who bends so completely to her mother's will. "But in the end, I based the performance on that feeling you get from being trapped by duty. Everybody experiences that at some time."

Arriving at Castle Howard for filming last summer made Atwell's view of Julia Flyte fall completely into place. "I took one look at the house and said to myself 'Okay… so that's how rich she is!"

Despite playing a man who appears to be a good egg but actually has a hard centre of social climber and snob about him, Matthew Goode found something to respect and empathise with in Charles Ryder. "He's had the loneliest of childhoods, no influx of love,
and he adores Brideshead hopelessly because he has been happy there. But yes, he is ambiguous."

Hmm… Many would say Charles's morals are not open to debate when he's happy to "pay" for Julia by giving her husband a couple of his paintings.

Director Julian Jarrold believes the Brideshead Revisited story, whether in print, on TV or portrayed on film, has a universal appeal. "For people who are perhaps not so interested in the religious angle, there is a wonderful three-way love story, and the generic question of whether the two children will ever escape the control
of their mother. They respond very differently to her dominance."

Over the five or six years it took to take the film from drawing board to location, it was Screen Yorkshire that acted as matchmaker between Castle Howard and the producers. The regional film development agency also stumped up £250,000 of the final £10m budget.

"That length of time is normal these days," says Rachel McWatt of Screen Yorkshire. "Pulling finance together is the major problem, and it usually comes these days from a variety of backers.

"It's so worthwhile, sticking with it, and keeping everyone talking, though. The result is a film that shows Yorkshire at its best, and will attract an international audience to recognise what a wonderful place this is.

"What we have now is a great story made into a film with 21st century production values. The film is much more polished and stylish
(than the TV series) because of those values. And although there are fewer characters in it, you do see great depth in them. I think the younger actors stand up really well next to the more experienced cast members like Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon."

In answer to those crucial questions that might be bugging Waugh fans out there: the teddy bear is in the film, but his part is smaller;
and yes, of course, the skinny-dipping scene in the fountain survives…



CASTLE HOWARD's STARRING ROLE WILL HELP TO FUND ITS FUTURE

THE real star is the house.

Mind you, when we say "house" in the context of Castle Howard, the term isn't limited just to the 100-room 18th century John Vanbrugh stone-built masterpiece in all its baroque splendour.

Mention of Castle Howard also conjures up 10,000 acres
including various follies, the Atlas fountain, lakes, the Temple of the Four Seasons, a sombre 19th century chapel, sweeping views of the glorious Howardian Hills, broad rich agricultural land and sheep feeding on verdant pastures.

Naturally, then, all this perfection means that when it came to making a feature film of Evelyn Waugh's 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited, producers would unblinkingly return to the triumphant location of the 1981 ITV series, which showed the house and estate to the world in 13 episodes and became an icon for the privileged, romantic, yet somehow dark lives of the British aristocracy.

Fifteen million viewers in the UK alone swooned each week over the ambiguous love story, the view of wasted youth and the tyranny of Lady Marchmain's totalitarian Catholicism.

Spooling forward a quarter of a century, it was not a given that the North Yorkshire stately home was the right choice for the long-awaited film of Brideshead. Film makers pondered the wisdom of seeking a new setting. In all, they considered 300 locations across the British Isles, including Chatsworth House, before deciding that nowhere else quite measured up.

Waugh visited Castle Howard at least once, in 1937, when he was on one of his regular retreats at nearby Ampleforth Abbey, although another Arts and Crafts house in the Midlands is also known to have influenced his vision of Brideshead.

The Honourable Simon Howard and his wife Rebecca and twin children embraced the filming, to the extent that leading actor Matthew Goode (Charles Ryder) joined them to watch Wimbledon in between takes. "That was my glimpse of the good life. They were great, even laying on the odd glass of champagne."

The house was closed only for one-and-half days because of filming, and despite the incessant rain that repeatedly chased the crew and actors indoors, the finished product features rain just once – in a scene set in London.

Apart from any fee paid, the new boost of publicity the Estate will receive as a result of October's film release is expected to significantly increase visitor numbers, financing further restoration and daily maintenance. This is particularly welcome during an economic downturn, says Castle Howard's curator Dr Chris Ridgway.

"I wasn't here then, but there was a fantastic spike in visitors after the TV series, and we kept a little exhibition about the filming here for many years afterwards, which people loved. I lecture about Castle Howard abroad, and people still refer to it as Brideshead. But for us it's about more than one £10m film called Brideshead Revisited. It's about helping to secure the future."

Brideshead Revisited will be released in the UK on October 3.

Behind the scenes of Brideshead Revisited at Castle Howard: see Saturday's Magazine.