This sad comedy was Chekhov's first play, written at the age of twenty-one. Its author was so dissatisfied with it that he stuffed its manuscript into the bottom of a drawer in his bureau, made no effort to get it staged and - possibly - forgot about it. The manuscript was not discovered until after Chekhov's death, and there was no production of it in Great Britain until 1960, when it was produced with huge success at London's Royal Court Theater. Rex Harrison enjoyed a great personal success in the title role and repeated it for this television production of eleven years later.
When Rex Harrison played the role of Platonov in the Royal Court stage production of 1960, his leading lady was Rachel Roberts, whom he later married. In this TV production, her part is played by another strongly Welsh actress, Sian Phillips.