Based on the classic adventure stories by CS Forester, Hornblower
is one of the most ambitious television productions ever. Producers
Malcolm Craddock and Muir Sutherland developed the first two-hour
Hornblower films for filming in the Ukraine. With a combined budget
of over �10 million, the first two-hour films represent the biggest
budget dramas ever shown on ITV.
HMS Phoenix, a full-size 24-gun frigate, was built from scratch in
Turkey, together with some full-size sections of a 74-gun ship of the
line, and eleven scale models of other vessels. A second ship, a
French merchantman 30 metres long, was also purchased.
Together with casting director John Hubbard and Director Andrew
Grieve, Malcolm Craddock saw over 30 leading young actors for the
part of Horatio Hornblower. After screen-testing 4 young men, Ioan
Gruffudd was chosen to play the lead in the series together with
Robert Lindsay as his mentor Captain Pellew.
The first film, Hornblower And The Even Chance, sees Horatio
Hornblower at the outset of his naval career. he joins the Navy as a
callow youth of 17, and becomes locked in an epic struggle with the
bullying Mr. Simpson. The screenplay is adapted from Mr.
Midshipman Hornblower by top screenwriter Russell Lewis (Sharpe,
Between The Lines and Kavanagh QC).
Subsequent films follow Hornblower as he sails to the Baltic, the
Mediterranean and the Caribbean, battling with thieves and
blackguards, en route to becoming an Admiral of the Fleet.
Hornblower is a United Film and Television production for ITV and
Arts & Entertainment Network, USA.