Napoleonic Newsdesk

Hornblower Comes To Our TV Screens!

As you will have realised from the publicity in the TV Guides and Newspapers, plus the articles by Richard Rutherford-Moore in the pages of this magazine, the fictional character Horatio Hornblower comes to our ITV screens this Autumn. Ioan Gruffudd takes the helm as the sea-faring hero in this lavish adaptation. The two two-hour films chart the exploits of the young midshipman, from his days as a seasick recruit, rising through the ranks to take command of his first vessel. Robert Lindsay, Denis Lawson and Michael Byrne star as captains Pellew, Foster and Keene. Joining the cast are Ian McNeice, Dorian Healy, Andrew Tiernan, Robert Bathurst and Jonathan Coy. Amid the tales of treachery on the high seas there are passionate encounters for the fictional hero and his men in later stories, when Cherie Lunghi and Estelle Skornik (who starred as Nicole in the Renault Clio adverts) join this distinguished cast with Antony Sher and Samuel West.

The Black Sea provided the setting for the recreation of spectacular naval battles from the Napoleonic Wars. Most of the maritime action was filmed aboard the first British frigate to be hand-built from wood in the last 150 years. Inspired by naval vessels of the 1750s, and built using traditional tools in Turkey, the 22-cannon Grand Turk doubles as HMS Indefatigable, the ship on which Hornblower served as a midshipman.

The two films, the first of four, have been adapted from C.S.Forester's original books by Russell Lewis and Mike Cullen. The director is Andrew Grieve and the producer is Andrew Benson.

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