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Rhodes

  • TV Mini Series
  • 1996
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
174
YOUR RATING
Martin Shaw in Rhodes (1996)
Rhodes: All The World's Diamonds
Play trailer3:05
1 Video
5 Photos
Drama

The story of the British 19th-century businessman who became the wealthiest man in the Western world and founded the nation Rhodesia.The story of the British 19th-century businessman who became the wealthiest man in the Western world and founded the nation Rhodesia.The story of the British 19th-century businessman who became the wealthiest man in the Western world and founded the nation Rhodesia.

  • Stars
    • Martin Shaw
    • Frances Barber
    • Neil Pearson
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.8/10
    174
    YOUR RATING
    • Stars
      • Martin Shaw
      • Frances Barber
      • Neil Pearson
    • 5User reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
      • 2 nominations total

    Episodes8

    Browse episodes
    Season1996

    Videos1

    Rhodes: All The World's Diamonds
    Trailer 3:05
    Rhodes: All The World's Diamonds

    Photos4

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    Top cast99+

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    Martin Shaw
    Martin Shaw
    • Cecil John Rhodes
    • 1996
    Frances Barber
    Frances Barber
    • Princess Catherine Radziwill
    • 1996
    Neil Pearson
    Neil Pearson
    • Dr. Leander Starr Jameson
    • 1996
    Frantz Dobrowsky
    • Alfred Beit
    • 1996
    Philip Godawa
    • John X. Merriman
    • 1996
    Ken Stott
    Ken Stott
    • Barney Barnato
    • 1996
    Andre Odendaal
    • Gordon Le Sueur
    • 1996
    David Dennis
    • Tony de la Cruz
    • 1996
    Jeremy Crutchley
    Jeremy Crutchley
    • Philip Jourdan…
    • 1996
    Alex Ferns
    Alex Ferns
    • John Grimmer
    • 1996
    Dominic Tyawa
    • Somabulane
    • 1996
    Guy de Lancey
    Guy de Lancey
    • Dr. Rutherfoord Harris…
    • 1996
    David Butler
    • Charles Rudd
    • 1996
    Sello Dlamini
    • Peter Lobengula
    • 1996
    John Carson
    John Carson
    • Sir Hercules Robinson
    • 1996
    Washington Xisolo
    • Lobengula
    • 1996
    Ian Roberts
    • Johann Colenbrander
    • 1996
    Ramolao Makhene
    • Babayane
    • 1996
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews5

    7.8174
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    Featured reviews

    10Gooper

    In The Tradition of Great Epics

    'Rhodes' takes its place alongside 'The Last Place on Earth' and 'The Jewel in the Crown' as one of the very best British-made series sagas. It has everything: masterful performances (it's Martin Shaw's show, of course, but everyone shines), a sweeping, informative and intelligent script, a magnificent score - reminiscent of John Barry, superb locations, and a whale of a story, a true story.

    The character of Cecil Rhodes is thoroughly and fulfillingly fleshed out. He is scarcely admirable, but he commands our attention for sheer audaciousness and dramatic power. The exploitation and double-crossing of the native peoples is portrayed with accuracy and grim detail, with many parallels to the American West. Rhodes was an opportunist and an empire builder in the extreme, who stopped at nothing to achieve his goals. As an epic character study, this drama really delivers as only the Brits can.

    Finally, a common complaint: no DVD version exists as if yet. If more viewers discovered this series, it would quickly be known as a classic.
    10j-vander-veen

    Rhodes, a man to hate but a portrait to be loved

    I have known Rhodes to be the father of oppression in southern Africa. A man of his time maybe, but one who did so much to create so much suffering, that I thought it impossible, that a biopic of him would fascinate me, but it did. Here we see a man driven by ambition, by disgust over his fellow humans, white or black. He is portrayed not as a person with whom you would like to identify yourself, but whose inner workings and motivations you want to know. This is the true greatness of the script. It entices you to involve yourself with a man, who stands wholeheartedly for a thoroughly black page in history.

    coupled to that it is a superb costume drama, with well developed secondary characters of whom I would like to mention by name: Ken Stott as Barney Barnato

    To sum it up. This film will not make you hate Rhodes any less than you did before, but it does help you to understand the fascination he created in his own day.
    10titan8856

    Why

    Again. why isn't this out on DVD yet? I saw this when it aired on Masterpiece in Jan. 1998, and I've never forgotten it, but obviously Masterpiece Theater has. It is British History, with all the dirt, blood, injustice that went along with it. An "incredible" portrayal of how it was, very well produced, acted, and musically scored. Is Masterpiece afraid to put this out there again, with it's "undercurrent" of homosexuality, and colonialism at all cost, or do they just prefer not to remember a piece of their history they would just as soon forget.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Music score was performed by the London Metropole Orchestra and Zulus vocals + choir by the The Zulus Of Simyanye Pioneer Camp and Shakaland, Kwazulaland, Nata, South Africa.

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • January 4, 1998 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • Canada
      • South Africa
    • Official site
      • PBS (United States)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Rhodes: O Poderoso
    • Filming locations
      • South Africa
    • Production companies
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
      • Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
      • South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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