Hornblower Sails Again!

Napoleonic Newsdesk

by Paul Chamberlain

C.S. Forester's famous maritime hero, Horatio Hornblower, takes to the high seas in a second series of epic dramas with Ioan Gruffudd again in the title role. Two new 2-hour films, adapted from the book Lieutenant Hornblower, follow our hero's adventures aboard the 74-gun ship The Renown, en route to the West Indies. An 11-week shoot began on Monday 29th May on location in Minorca and at Pinewood Studios in the UK.

In the first film mutiny seems the only option for Hornblower and his fellow lieutenants as the captain's increasingly erratic behaviour convinces them that he is unfit for command. David Warner plays the dangerously unpredictable Captain Sawyer. The story continues in the second film as Hornblower and his shipmates capture a fort from the Spaniards in Santo Domingo after a fierce battle at sea. The ship's company is triumphant but as The Renown sails towards Kingston, Hornblower faces a possible court martial for mutiny, the sentence for which is death.

Robert Lindsay makes a guest appearance as Captain Pellew and Ioan Gruffudd is reunited with original shipmates Jamie Bamber, Sean Gilder and Paul Copley. Paul McGann, Nicholas Jones, Philip Glenister and David Rintoul, with Terence Corrigan as Midshipman Wellard, the youngster who wins sympathy from the officers when he takes the brunt of the captain's fury, join on board these old hands.

The two new films follow on from the success of the first four adaptations that launched Ioan Gruffudd's career and won two prestigious Emmy awards in 1999.

They will be shown over the autumn and winter months; no precise date has been issued yet.

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