Very simply - a very good adventure series produced in 1987. Australian actor, Keith Michell (he was in his late fifties during the production) is solid as the brilliant Yorkshire adventurer - with gruff Yorkshire accent and syntax although he maybe lacks that 17th/18th-Century subtle and humane sense of the 'rococo' and 'Johnsonian'- this was the age of classical figures such as Bach, Handel, Humboldt and Defoe despite the horrors of the slave trade. Maybe the penetration of the Antarctic Circle by The Resolution in 1772-1773 could have have had more emphasis - surely one of the most ambitious and remarkable enterprises in modern history - along with the scenes in Brazil with The Endeavour which might have given the director a chance to show the abundance of the tropics in Latin America and views of the port of Rio. The scenes in Dutch Batavia during an outbreak of malaria are very evocative - the Dutch characters show purpose and look elegant 18th-Century costume. The music by Madrid-based composer, Jose Nieto who uses electronic keyboards is romantic and lush. Maybe excerpts from Bach and Handel could have been deployed? Spanish actor Fernando Rey (''The Light at the Edge of the World (1971) and ''Antony & Cleopatra'' (1972)) is quite good as the Head of the British Admiralty, Lord Hawke although I think his goatee-beard is anomalous.
Review of Captain James Cook
