Rating:
6.1/10 by 26 users
To the Ends of the Earth (2005)
From Nobel Laureate William Golding's (Lord of the Flies) epic sea-voyage trilogy comes the story of an ambitious British aristocrat, humbled by the lives of his fellow passengers, as he embarks on an ocean voyage for Australia where he is to be an official in the colonial government.
Writing:
Release Date:
Wed, Jul 06, 2005
Country: GB
Language: En
Runtime: 90
Country: GB
Language: En
Runtime: 90
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
Paula Jennings
Zenobia
Thomas James Fisher
Askew
Adam Woolf
Phillips
Richard McCabe
Mr. Brocklebank
Tim Delap
Mr. Bowles
Vanessa Pike
Mrs. Pike
Jonathan Slinger
Mr. Pike
James Alexander
Billy Rogers
Tom Fisher
Askew
Joe Vaz
Markham
Denise Black
Mrs. Brocklebank
Jonathan Pienaar
Smiles
Charles Dance
Sir Henry Somerset
Cheryl Campbell
Lady Somerset
JJ Feild
Lieutenant Deverel
Theo Landey
Bates
Damon Berry
Mr. East
Daniel Newman
Gibbs
Calum Callaghan
Willis
Season 1:
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.
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.
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.