''The Voyage of Charles Darwin'' was a 1978

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television serial depicting the life of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

, focusing largely on his voyage on . The series encompasses his university days to the 1859 publication of his book ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life'')The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by M ...

'' and his death and is loosely based on Darwin's own letters, diaries, and journals, especially ''

The Voyage of the Beagle ''The Voyage of the Beagle'' is the title most commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his ''Journal and Remarks'', bringing him considerable fame and respect. This was the third volume of ''The Narrative ...

'' and ''

The Autobiography of Charles Darwin ''The Autobiography of Charles Darwin'' is an autobiography by the English naturalist Charles Darwin. Darwin wrote the text, which he entitled ''Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character'', for his family. He states that he start ...

''. It starred Malcolm Stoddard as Darwin and

Andrew Burt Andrew Thomas Hutchison Burt (23 May 1945 – 16 November 2018) was a British actor, voiceover artist, and counsellor. Early life and education Andrew Burt was born on 23 May 1945 in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to Hutchison B ...

as Captain

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy, politician and scientist who served as the second governor of New Zealand between 1843 and 1845. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of ...

. The

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

was refitted to depict HMS ''Beagle''.History of the barque Marques
/ref> The series was repeated in December 1995. It was broadcast in the US on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

starting 27 January 1980 and was hosted by

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...

. It was produced by Christopher Ralling.

Cast

* Malcolm Stoddard –

–

Peter Settelen Peter Settelen (born 23 September 1951) is a British actor and voice coach, known for helping Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) improve her public speaking skills. Early life Settelen was born in London. He worked as an actor, including a ...

– Lieutenant Sullivan * David Ashton – Lieutenant Wickham *Jenny Quayle – Catherine Darwin

Episodes

Reception

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

'' called the series "a profoundly stimulating mix of entertainment and information".

Awards

The series won the 1979

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

for Best Factual Series and for Best Cinematography. It was nominated for one other BAFTA. It also won Best Documentary Series from the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards in 1979.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Voyage of Charles Darwin, The 1978 British television series debuts 1978 British television series endings 1970s British drama television series BBC television dramas 1970s British television miniseries British English-language television shows Television shows set in Cornwall