I just discovered by chance a BBC miniseries from 1978, The Voyage of Charles Darwin. I was astonished how good it was and that I’d never heard of it before. Who knew? It was a production of equal scale and depth of interest to that of *Roots *the previous year, but has languished in obscurity ever since. The direction and camera work were second to none. No famous name actors were used; this must have kept down costs, allowing them to pour more resources into some excellent nature cinematography and historical nautical authenticity. It follows in considerable detail the voyage of the *Beagle *as far as the Galápagos and then switches back to England. It vividly brings to life how South American species appeared through Darwin’s eyes and mind, and his thought processes as they developed along the way. It included plenty of geology, too.
One thing that impressed me about this production is how they kept the focus squarely on science instead of getting carried away with dramatization. Only in the seventh and last segment, the famous Huxley-Wilberforce debate was played up dramatically. But on the whole, it was very faithful to the science throughout. I could not believe such a great production has gone so unrecognized and forgotten. I bet a lot of Dopers would love it. If only we could get PBS to air it—what do you say?
If you liked the Darwin series, then I highly recommend the movie Creation (2009) which is also about Darwin.
The book it’s based on, Annie’s Box, was written by Darwin’s g-g grandson, Randal Keynes, who uses as his source materials unpublished letters and papers that came down in the family and had been previously unpublished. It’s a superb read.
I didn’t know this existed. The BBC has clearly shown it again since the original 1978 broadcast (the Wallace and Gromit channel ident gives that away). Why isn’t this well known? It clearly wasn’t a throwaway - it’s the best part of 7 hours long and involves filming aboard an actual ship.
And while they are at it, they can also dust off Against the Wind, another very fine British period miniseries from 1978. I remember being riveted watching it back then and have always wanted to find it again. The had a chunk shot on board a ship as well - maybe they had a great period ship and did both miniseries that year to take advantage of it.
Story followed an Irish girl transported to Australia as a prisoner and I recall it dealt with some pretty harsh history about the early days as a penal colony, including the treatment of the aborigines. Curious to see how it holds up these days, but it was way more serious that anything else I had seen on TV at that time.