''The Wanderer'' is a fantasy drama television miniseries of a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

origin, first transmitted on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

from 14 September to 7 December 1994, and comprising 13 hour-long episodes."Happy Wanderer", '' Daily Record'', 20 August 1994 (p. 34)"The Wanderer", ''

TV Zone ''TV Zone'' was a British magazine that was published every four weeks by Visual Imagination that covered cult television. Initially, it mostly covered science fiction, but branched out to cover other drama and comedy series. History ''TV Zone ...

'' Magazine, October 1994 (pp. 26-29)."Tonight's TV", ''

Evening Herald ''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Ev ...

'', 14 September 1994 (p.34) Every episode brings a new adventure, and the story of long-ago brothers Adam and Zachary, Princess Beatrice, and Lady Clare slowly unfolds as the present-day Adam searches for the original Zachary's grave, a magic stone, and a lost book of power.

Premise

The central characters of the programme were created, and its core format was developed, by

Tom Gabbay Tom Gabbay (born April 1, 1953) is a United States novelist and screenwriter, best known for the Jack Teller series of historical spy thrillers. Gabbay was born in Bloomington, Indiana. In his early career, he contributed political cartoons to t ...

, who also served as executive producer of the series, which was filmed on locations in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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, and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, including

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

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Helmsley Castle Helmsley Castle (also known anciently as ''Hamlake'') is a medieval castle situated in the market town of Helmsley, within the North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England. History Although the estate of Helmsley was granted to Ro ...

and the

Yorkshire Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a National Park in 1952, through the National Parks and A ...

, made by FingerTip Films (a partnership between

Roy Clarke Royston Clarke (born 28 January 1930) is an English comedy writer, best known for creating the sitcoms ''Last of the Summer Wine'', ''Keeping Up Appearances'', ''Open All Hours'' and its sequel series, ''Still Open All Hours''. Early life Cla ...

, who wrote the scripts, and producer Steve Lanning) for

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

with

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers a ...

(United Kingdom),

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

(Germany), and Antena 3 (Spain). Bob Mahoney directed ''Rebirth'', the first episode of the series. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, ''The Wanderer'' was transmitted primarily in first-run syndication.

Opening narration

Beginning for the first episode: Beginning from episodes 2 to 13:

Plot summary

The shy multi-millionaire businessman Adam ("the Wanderer" of the programme's title) and his wicked twin brother Zachary (both played by Brown) are two former knights from the late 10th century during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

at the end of the 1st millennium, both of whom have been

born again To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...

(or reincarnated) in the late 20th century. Zachary is after a complicated revenge on Adam, who killed him in the year A.D. 1000, but much more is at stake than mere vengeance. As the turn of the 3rd millennium is approaching, people are growing more superstitious, and Zachary plans to use this for his own purpose. He needs his brother Adam dead, and Adam's death to be seen by witnesses, so he can pose as Adam resurrected. The other players in both time-zones are Zachary's beautiful but deadly companion Beatrice (played by Thomson), Adam's friend Godbold (in the present day a philosophically-minded

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, hot-water production, sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

and

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

with a large beard, but once a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

and

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

, played by Haygarth), and Adam's 10th century lover Lady Clare (played by Moore). She has come back in the present day as Clare, a high-spirited photographer, and she does not plan to lose her man a second time. Wolfgang Mathias (played by Tausig) is Adam's personal assistant. Unfortunately for him, as he himself has no roots in the 10th century, he finds virtually everything about the Wanderer's world extremely confusing.

Cast

Main characters

Notable guest stars

Episode list

Home media availability

ITV Studios Home Entertainment, owners of the copyright to ''The Wanderer'', were not known to have released it on home media in any format as of the beginning of August 2014.

Reception

'' magazine, surveying the ratings for TV shows aired on Sky One, noted that ''The Wanderer's'' debut episode was watched by 0.46 million UK viewers."Ratings Review", ''TV Zone'' Magazine, Issue 63, February 1995 (pg. 4) Subsequently, the show's episodes had lower ratings, gaining fewer viewers than Sky One's showings of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Highlander: The Series''. The magazine concluded ''"Unless it he Wandererperforms well in other territories, a long life is not expected".'' According to TV historian Milly Buonanno, ''The Wanderer'' was "an absolute failure according to audience ratings".Milly Buonanno, ''Shifting landscapes : television fiction in Europe'' University of Luton Press, 1999. (p. 153) Unhappy with the show's performance, ZDF ceased showing ''The Wanderer'' after the third episode.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wanderer (TV series), The 1994 British television series debuts 1994 British television series endings 1990s British drama television series British fantasy drama television series Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Yorkshire Television 1990s British television miniseries British English-language television shows Television shows about magic Sky UK television dramas