''Hornblower'' is a series of British

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other t ...

war television films based on three of C. S. Forester's ten novels about the fictional character

Horatio Hornblower Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films, radio and television programmes, an ...

, a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

officer during the French Revolutionary and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

. The series ran from 7 October 1998 until 6 January 2003, with Ioan Gruffudd in the title role. It was produced by the British broadcaster

ITV Meridian ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise for the South and South East England, South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadca ...

, and was shown on ITV in the UK and A&E in the US. It is often repeated on

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, cult clas ...

Main cast

* Ioan Gruffudd as Midshipman (and later Lieutenant and Commander)

* Robert Lindsay as Captain (and later Commodore and Admiral) Sir

Edward Pellew Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother Is ...

* Jamie Bamber as Midshipman (and later Lieutenant) Archie Kennedy (Films 1, 3-6) * Paul McGann as Lieutenant William Bush (Films 5-8) * Paul Copley as Matthews,

Boatswain A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervis ...

* Sean Gilder as Styles, Boatswain's Mate * Jonathan Coy as Lieutenant (later Commander) Bracegirdle (Films 1-4, 8) * Dorian Healy as

Midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Af ...

Jack Simpson (Film 1) * Simon Sherlock as Oldroyd (Films 1-4) * Chris Barnes as Finch (Films 1-2) * Ian McElhinney as Captain Hammond (Films 2, 5-7) * Colin MacLachlan as Ship's Master Bowles (Films 1-4) * David Warner as Captain James Sawyer (Films 5-6) * David Rintoul as Dr. Clive, Ship's Surgeon (Films 5-6) * Nicholas Jones as Lieutenant Buckland (Films 5-6) *

Philip Glenister Philip Haywood Glenister (born 10 February 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in the BBC series '' Life on Mars'' (2006–2007) and its sequel '' Ashes to Ashes'' (2008–2010). He also played DCI Willia ...

as Hobbs (Films 5-6) * Lorcan Cranitch as Wolfe (Films 7-8) * Julia Sawalha as Maria Mason (Films 7-8) * Barbara Flynn as Mrs. Mason (Films 7-8) * Jonathan Forbes as Midshipman Orrock (Films 7-8) Other well-known actors appeared in guest roles, including Michael Byrne,

Denis Lawson Denis Stamper Lawson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish actor and director. He is known for his roles as John Jarndyce in the BBC's adaptation of '' Bleak House'', as Gordon Urquhart in the film '' Local Hero'', as Retired DI Steve McAndr ...

Antony Sher Sir Antony Sher (14 June 1949 – 2 December 2021) was a British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 a ...

, Ian McNeice,

Andrew Tiernan Andrew James Tiernan (born 30 November 1965) is a British actor and director. Biography Theatre Tiernan began acting with the Birmingham Youth Theatre and moved to London in 1984 to study a three-year diploma in acting at the Drama Centre Lo ...

, Samuel West, Christian Coulson, Cherie Lunghi, Greg Wise and Ronald Pickup.

The film series

The series consists of eight television films, which are notable for their high production values. All were later released on DVD (with the original aspect ratio of 16:9 widescreen in Europe and 4:3 in the US). In the US, the series was retitled ''Horatio Hornblower'', and some of the films were known by different titles. The eight films cover the events of just three of the ten novels (''

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower ''Mr. Midshipman Hornblower'' is a 1950 Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. Although it may be considered as the first episode in the Hornblower saga, it was written as a prequel; the first Hornblower novel, ''The Happy Return'' ...

'', ''

Lieutenant Hornblower ''Lieutenant Hornblower'' (published 1952) is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. It is the second book in the series chronologically, but the seventh by order of publication. The book is unique in the series in being told not ...

'', and ''

Hornblower and the Hotspur ''Hornblower and the Hotspur'' (published 1962) is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. It is the third book in the series chronologically, but the tenth by order of publication, and serves as the basis for one of the episodes ...

''), and various alterations and additions are made to the source material (e.g., the recurring characters of Lt. Archie Kennedy, Matthews and Styles). * '' The Even Chance'' (U.S. title: ''The Duel'') (7 October 1998) * '' The Examination for Lieutenant'' (U.S. title: ''The Fire Ships'') (18 November 1998) * '' The Duchess and the Devil'' (24 February 1999) * '' The Frogs and the Lobsters'' (U.S. title: ''The Wrong War'') (2 April 1999) * ''

Mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among memb ...

'' (8 April 2001) * '' Retribution'' (15 April 2001) * '' Loyalty'' (5 January 2003) * '' Duty'' (6 January 2003)

Production

Captain Pellew's ship, , is represented by the ''

Grand Turk Grand Turk Island is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is the largest island in the Turks Islands (the smaller of the two archipelagos that make up the island territory) with . Grand Turk contains the territory's capital, Cockburn To ...

'', a modern copy of the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...

built in 1741. To represent Hornblower's ship, HMS ''Hotspur'', the ''Earl of Pembroke'', a civilian ship, underwent some conversion. The Baltic trading schooner ''Julia'' and the

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...

''Phoenix of Dell Quay'' were used to represent the smaller vessels. No real

74-gun ship The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...

existed any longer at the time of production (the last one, HMS ''Implacable'', was scuttled in 1949), so HMS ''Justinian'' and HMS ''Renown'' had to be recreated as models. For the first series a quarter of a 74-gun ship (one exterior side and three open sides to shoot live action on several decks) called the ''pontoon'' was built. Later live action on the quarterdeck or the

gundeck The term gun deck used to refer to a deck aboard a ship that was primarily used for the mounting of cannon to be fired in broadsides. The term is generally applied to decks enclosed under a roof; smaller and unrated vessels carried their guns on ...

below was shot on the actual HMS ''Victory''. Eleven scale models, ranging from 4.5 to 7 m in length, were used for the battle scenes, the largest weighing 1400 kg, and made with working rigging and cannons that were fired by remote control. Shooting locations included the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

, the Livadia Palace, Portugal, and the former administration (Melville) building of the Royal William Yard and the

Barbican, Plymouth The Barbican is the name given to the western and northern sides of Sutton Harbour, the original harbour of Plymouth in Devon, England. It was one of the few parts of the city to escape most of the destruction of The Blitz during the Second ...

in England.

Awards

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series represents excellence in the category of limited series that are two or more episodes, with a total running time of at least 150 minutes. Criteria The program must tell a compl ...

(1999) * Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or Movie (1999)

Future

Ioan Gruffudd had shown interest in participating in more ''Hornblower'' films. In 2007, he reportedly discussed the possibility of a big-screen version of ''Hornblower'', and had been attempting to gain the rights to the books by C. S. Forester.""Wenn"
Gruffudd Plans Hornblower Movie
at contactmusic.com, 20 July 2007

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hornblower (TV Series) 1990s British drama television series 2000s British drama television series 1998 British television series debuts 2003 British television series endings 1998 television films 1998 films 1999 television films 1999 films 2002 television films 2002 films 2003 television films 2003 films English-language television shows Films based on British novels Films based on historical novels Films based on military novels Films set in France Films set in the 1790s Films set in the 1800s French Revolutionary Wars films British historical television series British military television series Nautical television series Napoleonic Wars films Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries winners Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series ITV television dramas Television shows based on British novels Television shows produced by Meridian Broadcasting Television series by ITV Studios Television series produced at Pinewood Studios Napoleonic Wars in fiction War television series 2000s English-language films 1990s English-language films