North and South (miniseries)

North and South
Complete Collection DVD cover
Genre	Historical fiction
Created by	David L. Wolper
Based on	North and South (trilogy) by John Jakes
Story by	John Jakes
Starring	James Read Patrick Swayze Lesley-Anne Down Kirstie Alley Jean Simmons Mitchell Ryan Terri Garber Genie Francis David Ogden Stiers Jonathan Frakes Hal Holbrook
Theme music composer	Bill Conti
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	Book I: 6 Book II: 6 Book III: 3
Production
Producer(s)	Paul Freeman
Cinematography	Stevan Larner, ASC
Running time	90 minutes/episode 1,342 mins. total
Production company(s)	David L. Wolper Productions Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	480i (NTSC)
Audio format	Book I & Book II: Mono Book III: Stereo
Original release	Book I: November 3, 1985 Book II: May 4, 1986 Book III: February 27, 1994

North and South is the title of three American television miniseries broadcast on the ABC network in 1985, 1986, and 1994. Set before, during, and immediately after the American Civil War, they are based on the 1980s trilogy of novels North and South by John Jakes. The 1985 first installment, North and South, remains the seventh-highest rated miniseries in TV history.North and South: Book II (1986) was met with similar success, while 1994's Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III was poorly received by both critics and audiences.

The saga tells the story of the enduring friendship between Orry Main of South Carolina (Patrick Swayze) and George Hazard of Pennsylvania (James Read), who become best friends while attending the United States Military Academy at West Point but later find themselves and their families on opposite sides of the war. The slave-owning Mains are rural planters, while the Hazards, who resided in a small Northern mill town, profit from ownership of manufacturing and industry capital, their differences reflecting the divisions between North and South that eventually led to the Civil War.

The initial 1985 miniseries cast Patrick Swayze as Orry Main and James Read as George Hazard with Lesley-Anne Down as Orry's love interest Madeline and Wendy Kilbourne as George's future wife Constance.Kirstie Alley played George's outspoken abolitionist sister Virgilia, with Genie Francis as Orry's "good" sister Brett and Terri Garber as his selfish and wicked sister Ashton, as well as Philip Casnoff as Elkanah Bent, George and Orry's nemesis. All of these actors returned for the 1986 sequel, joined by Parker Stevenson as Billy Hazard, George's brother and Brett's husband.