BBC Two · Ended

Shackleton

Drama, Adventure, History · 1983

Last aired: S1 E4, Cape Horn - or South Georgia? · 1983-05-04

Having had a taste of Antarctic adventure on Captain Scott's failed 1901 bid to reach the South Pole, seven years later Ernest Shackleton leads his own expedition. Agonisingly close to reaching the Pole, the men have to pull back in an appalling blizzard to reach their ship before the advancing ice cuts off the passage home. By 1911 Roald Amundsen has reached the Pole and Scott and his men, trailing in the Norwegian's wake, have perished. Undeterred, in 1914 Shackleton and his trusted deputy Frank Wild set out on their most famous journey aboard Endurance, with the aim of crossing the icy continent from sea to sea.

Cast

David Schofield Ernest Shackleton

MH Michael Hayward 'Putty' Marston

DR David Rodigan Frank Wild

Geoffrey Chater Sir Clements Markham

Robert Lang Major Darwin

Season 1

E1 A Merchant Navy Man 1983-04-13 · 60 min David Schofield takes the title role in the first of Christopher Railing's new four-part drama-documentary charting the career of the great adventurer and explorer. His fascination with Antarctica took him on four separate expeditions to the frozen continent.

E2 Our Dead Bodies Must Tell the Tale 1983-04-20 · 60 min October 1908. McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Forced by ice conditions to break an agreement with Scott, Shackleton has returned to Ross Island. From the expedition s base at Cape Royds an attempt to reach the South Pole is about to begin. The loss of ponies during the winter has severely limited their plans.

E3 Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey 1983-04-27 · 60 min 1914. Following the shattering news of Scott's death on his return journey from the South Pole, Shackleton formulates a new challenge on Antarctica. Sailing south in Endurance, his expedition will cross the vast ice continent.

E4 Cape Horn - or South Georgia? 1983-05-04 · 60 min December 1916: After the loss of Endurance, Shackleton and his 27 men endeavour to cross the frozen Weddell Sea. Land lies 350 miles away, and as they drift helplessly northwards they know that soon the ice will break beneath them.

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