Episodes
Rites of Passage
1800:- Young Edmund Talbot is sailing to Australia to take up a government post, on a decrepit old ship skippered by Captain Anderson, who is hostile to Edmund until he realizes that he has important relatives. Far more admirable to Edmund are Lieutenants Summer, who has worked his way up through the ranks, and the dashing Deverel. His fellow passengers number demure governess Miss Granham, the republican Mr Prettiman and artist Mr Brocklebank, travelling with his wife and daughter Zenobia - who initiates Edmund into sex - though ultimately he realizes that they are not related, merely a carnal ménage a trois. Also on board is the gauche young vicar Colley, who inadvertently breaches protocol by going onto the bridge uninvited. Ashamed he gets drunk and has gay sex with crew members before locking himself in his cabin, where, despite Edmund's efforts to bring about reconciliation, he wastes away and dies.
Close Quarters
The ship is becalmed and another vessel is sighted, which turns out to be British - the Alcyone, whose commander announces that the war with France is over. The two vessels anchor alongside and a ball is held for the passengers. Here Edmund meets the sweet Marion Chumley, though he has a rival for affections in Deverel. However, when the two ships part Deverel is exchanged for the Alcyone's officer, the urbane Benet and Edmund confides in Summers his regret at having to say goodbye to Marion. A storm blows up, during which the unfortunate steward Wheeler, considered a Jonah, is thrown overboard and Prettiman severely injured, being nursed rather unexpectedly by Miss Grnham. A mast is also broken and Benet and Summers disagree over the best way to mend it.
Fire Down Below
Edmund acts as a witness to the wedding between the injured Prettiman and Miss Granham, with flowers grown by the captain in his window boxes. Despite initial animosity towards him Edmund starts to show some admiration for the older man's liberal ideas. With the mast broken the ship is drifting perilously close to an ice-field but Benet saves the situation by pouring molten lead into the mast's base, which steadies it and the ship reaches Sydney safely. Due to Edmund's influence Summers is given his own ship but dies when it catches fire though for Edmund there is a happy ending as he is reconciled with Marion, who has also arrived in Sydney.
Cast
Benedict Cumberbatch
Edmund Talbot
Jared Harris
Captain Anderson
Jamie Sives
1st Lieutenant Summers
Victoria Hamilton
Miss Granham
Sam Neill
Mr. Prettiman
Daniel Evans
Parson Colley
Chris Walker
Oldmeadow
Robert Hobbs
Lieutenant Cumbersham
Joanna Page
Marion Chumley
Brian Pettifer
Wheeler
Crew
Donal Woods
Production Design
Leigh Jackson
Writer
Philip Kloss
Editor
Rosalind Ebbutt
Costume Design
Tony Basgallop
Writer
William Golding
Novel
Rob Lane
Original Music Composer
Laura Mackie
Executive Producer
Hilary Bevan Jones
Executive Producer
Joyce Nettles
Casting
Recommended
Info provided by The Movie Database. Watch sources provided by JustWatch.