Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Ioan Gruffudd | ... | Commander Horatio Hornblower | |
Robert Lindsay | ... | Admiral Sir Edward Pellew | |
Paul McGann | ... | Lieutenant Bush | |
Greg Wise | ... | Major Côtard | |
Lorcan Cranitch | ... | Wolfe | |
Tony Haygarth | ... | Master Prowse | |
Julia Sawalha | ... | Maria Mason | |
Barbara Flynn | ... | Mrs. Mason | |
Paul Copley | ... | Matthews | |
Sean Gilder | ... | Styles | |
Ian McElhinney | ... | Captain Hammond | |
Christian Coulson | ... | Midshipman Jack Hammond | |
Ron Cook | ... | Steward James Doughty | |
Jonathan Forbes | ... | Midshipman Charles Orrock | |
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Jim McManus | ... | Pawnbroker |
The war with France has been over for a year and Horatio Hornblower finds himself on land. With his ship, the Retribution, laid up and his promotion to Commander rescinded as a result, he finds himself a poor Lieutenant in a peace time navy. He has taken to playing cards to make a living. Luck presents itself in the form Sir Edward Pellew, his mentor and former commanding officer. Horatio soon finds himself again promoted to Commander and in charge of a sloop, the HMS Hotspur. He recruits his old shipmate Lt. Bush as his first officer, along with Matthews and Stiles. His task is to transport a French officer to the coast but once ashore, Horatio discovers the French amassing an invasion force. Once again at war, the men of the Hotspur are tasked to lead an advance force against a shore battery ahead of the British fleet. Hornblower soon realizes he has a traitor among his crew. In his personal life, he has to deal with the lovely Maria, his landlady's daughter who has taken quite a ... Written by garykmcd
The opening credits note "based on the stories by C. S. Forester". In the interest of fairness, it should say "very loosely based...". I happened across this on tonight and am appalled for Forester's sake. How A&E takes a well-written intelligent drama and turns it into such stupid melodrama that has only a faintly passing relationship to the actual story is beyond my comprehension. Spielberg once said to his crew in regard to a tv-movie he was making, "This is TV folks - Tender Vittles. We have to make it simple for them." Obviously the A&E folks studied at his school of pablum. Certainly this series is entertaining on some level, but don't for a minute think you know the Hornblower story based on seeing it. Call it something else and not Hornblower if they're going to change it so radically. For me, I'm angry, as I hoped to see Forester's great stories given a good treatment.