Longitude (TV series)

*Longitude*
Longitude
Genre	Period drama
Based on	Longitude; by Dava Sobel
Written by	Charles Sturridge
Directed by	Charles Sturridge
Starring	Michael Gambon; Jeremy Irons;
Composer	Geoffrey Burgon
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	2
Production
Executive producers	Pippa Cross; Delia Fine; Anthony Root;
Producer	Selwyn Roberts
Cinematography	Peter Hannan
Editor	Peter Coulson
Running time	250 min (UK); 200 min (US);
Production companies	Granada Television; A&E Network;
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	2 January –; 3 January 2000

Longitude is a 2000 TV drama produced by Granada Television and the A&E Network for Channel 4, first broadcast between 2 and 3 January 2000 in the UK on Channel 4 and the US on A&E. It is a dramatisation of the 1995 book of the same title by Dava Sobel. It was written and directed by Charles Sturridge and stars Michael Gambon as clockmaker John Harrison (1693–1776) and Jeremy Irons as horologist Rupert Gould (1890–1948).^[1]

Plot

Longitude presents the story of Harrison's efforts to develop the marine chronometer and thereby win the Longitude prize in the 18th century. This is interwoven with the story of Gould, a retired naval officer, who is restoring Harrison's four chronometers and popularises his achievements in the early twentieth century.

Cast

18th century

20th century

Jonathan Coy – Adm. Sir Cloudesley Shovell
Christopher Hodsol – Capt. Ainsley
John Nettleton – Minister for the Navy
Michael Gambon – John Harrison
Nigel Davenport – Sir Charles Pelham
Liam Jennings – Young William Harrison
Gemma Jones – Elizabeth Harrison
John Wood – Sir Edmond Halley
David Wood – Ditton (based on Humphry Ditton, who died in 1715)
Mark Tandy – William Whiston
Stephen Fry – Sir Kenhelm Digby (Based on Kenelm Digby, who died in 1665)
Tobias Menzies - Halley's Secretary
Robert Demeger – Observatory porter
Peter Vaughan – George Graham (clockmaker)
Sarah Badel – Society lady (George Graham's customer)
Stephen Simms – James Harrison
Frank Finlay – Admiral Sir Charles Wager (First Lord of the Admiralty)
Cliff Parisi – Lt. Draper of HMS Centurion
Rupert Baker – Lt. Bertie of HMS Centurion
Andrew Scott – John Campbell of HMS Centurion
John Standing – Capt. Proctor of HMS Centurion
Charles Gray – Adm. Balchen (Lisbon)
Trevor Cooper – Roger Willis of HMS Orford
William Scott-Masson – Lt. Knorvler of HMS Orford
William Thomas – Arthur Mason of HMS Orford
Roger Lloyd-Pack – Capt. Man of HMS Orford
Ian Burfield – Jos Killick of HMS Orford
John Quentin – Dr. James Bradley
Alfred Burke – Rear Admiral
Peter-Hugo Daly – John Jefferys (clockmaker)
Ian McNeice – Dr Nathaniel Bliss
Samuel West – Nevil Maskelyne
Ian Hart – William Harrison
Bill Nighy – Lord Sandwich
Brian Cox – Lord Morton
Nick Reding – Capt. Campbell of HMS Dorsetshire
Peter Penry-Jones – Surgeon
Charles Edwards – Lt. Seward of HMS Deptford
Clive Francis – Capt. Dudley Digges [fr] of HMS Deptford
Steven Alvey - Learmouth of HMS Deptford
Ben Jones - Lt. Williams
Gary Waldhorn – Commodore Forrest
Colin McCormack - Inn Landlord
Daragh O'Malley – Capt. William Bourke of HMS Merlin
Phil Dix - Lt. Bandelwine of HMS Merlin
Frederick Warder – Bosun of HMS Merlin
Gavin Molloy / Steven Morphew – Marine (Board of Longitude)
Tim McInnerny – Christopher Irwin (inventor of the marine chair)
John Normington – Mr. Greene (astronomer)
Pip Torrens – Capt. John Lindsay of HMS Tartar
Frederick Treves – Governor of Barbados
Rose Keegan - Amy
Nicholas Rowe – King George
Heike Makatsch – Queen Charlotte
John Quayle – Dr. Stephen Demainbray
T. P. McKenna – Edmund Burke
Kelvin Cook – Carpenter
Eliza Darby – Portuguese child
Duane Fierro – Naval captain
Daniela Lavender – Courtesan
Christopher Longman - Lieutenant Chester

Jeremy Irons – Rupert Gould
Clare Moody – Staff nurse
Clare McCarron - Nurse
Peter Cartwright – Army doctor
Anna Chancellor – Muriel Gould
Joe Williams – Cecil Gould
Geoffrey Hutchings – Estate manager
Sophie Millett – Dyson's secretary
Alec McCowen – Sir Frank Watson Dyson
Emma Kay - Laura Gurney (Goulds' lodger)
Michael Cochrane – Waddington, Gould's solicitor
Barbara Leigh-Hunt – Dodo Gould
John Leeson – Francis Gray/Uncle Mac - BBC radio producer
Sasha Hails – BBC PA/Researcher
Hugh Simon - Doctor
Rebecca Clay – Observatory assistant
Richard Janes – Young assistant
Faith Kent – Lady curator
Lucy Akhurst – Nurse Grace Ingram
James Bradshaw – Callboy

Awards

In 2001, Longitude was nominated for the British Academy Television Awards in ten categories, winning in five, including Best Actor (Michael Gambon) and Best Drama Serial.^[2]

References

^ "Longitude © (1999)". movie-dude.com. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
^ "Awards for Longitude". IMDb. Retrieved 20 February 2009.

External links

Longitude at IMDb
2000 — The Year in Review (Channel 4)

[1] "Longitude © (1999)". movie-dude.com. Retrieved 22 June 2021.

[2] "Awards for Longitude". IMDb. Retrieved 20 February 2009.

[1]

[2]

v t e Films directed by Charles Sturridge
Films	Runners (1983) Aria (1987) A Handful of Dust (1988) Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991) FairyTale: A True Story (1997) Ohio Impromptu (2002) Lassie (2005) The Scapegoat (2012)
Television	Brideshead Revisited (1981) A Foreign Field (1993) Gulliver's Travels (1996) Longitude (2000) Shackleton (2002) The Road to Coronation Street (2010) Churchill's Secret (2016) MotherFatherSon (2019)