Overview

Challenged by a new student, tutor and theorist Galileo co-opts emerging telescope technology and discovers irrefutable proof of the heretical notion that the earth is not the center of the universe. But in a rigid society ruled by an uneasy alliance of aristocracy and clergy already undermined by the Plague and the Reformation, science is a threat and enlightenment is a luxury. Faced with either death at the hands of the Inquisition or recantation to a hypocritical but all-powerful Papacy, Galileo must choose between his own life and the restless scientific curiosity that he has spurned family, friends, and wealth to pursue.

Genres

Cast

Chaim Topol

Galileo Galilei

Edward Fox

Cardinal Inquisitor

Colin Blakely

Priuli

Georgia Brown

Ballad Singer's Wife

Clive Revill

Ballad Singer

Margaret Leighton

Elderly Court Lady

John Gielgud

The Old Cardinal

Michael Gough

Sagredo

Michael Lonsdale

Cardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII)

Richard O'Callaghan

Fulganzio

Tim Woodward

Ludovico Marsili

Judy Parfitt

Angelica Sarti