This is, quite simply, wonderful. Just before I stuck the first DVD in my player, I was a little worried that "Jack Holborn" would look dated and silly in my jaded adult eyes. It did not, even for a moment. The occasional historical blooper that went completely over my 12-year-old head somehow seems endearing now, and the only mildly embarrassing moments are caused by a very cheesy piece of background music intruding at an inappropriate moment - but this happens perhaps twice in the course of the series. This is still the same piece of television that kindled in me an enduring fascination with and interest in all things nautical, the Age of Sail, and the 18th century, and even engendered some enthusiasm for my German lessons, which have stood me in immensely good stead in later life.
"Jack Holborn" is, vaguely, an adaptation of the Leon Garfield young adults' novel of the same name. I say "vaguely" because, although the main idea is still there and some details have been preserved, very important aspects of the story, as well as a lot of the characterisation, have been changed. For my money, however, the series plot works out better and makes far more sense than the book one. The title hero is a plucky 13-year-old foundling, whom we meet as his fate is being decided by Lord Sharingham, a magistrate in 1787 Bristol. Jack wants to be ship's boy, but he's assigned to work for a local family of sail-makers and cobblers instead, despite the magistrate's twin brother, the privateer Captain Sharingham, offering to take him aboard his ship, the "Charming Molly." The magistrate accuses his brother of dealings with pirates and vows to bring him to justice and clear the family name; meanwhile, Jack is plagued by a recurring hazy memory of a foggy night at sea ten years previously that appears to hold the key to who he is and to what happened to his parents, and in which Captain Sharingham and his ship seem to play an important part. The plot thickens thereafter, with never a dull moment in the roughly five hours the series is long. To reveal more would be spoilerific - suffice it to say that, as in any decent story containing twin siblings, mistaken identity comes to play a huge part in the plot, and there's rousing adventure in spades, both on land and upon the high seas: betrayals, loyalty, swordplay, pistols, muskets, belaying pins, stowing away, ruses, disguises, broadsides, boarding, spying, a duel, storms, shipwrecks, mutinies, flogging, romance, revenge, cruelty, mercy, courtroom drama, a mysterious lady, moral ambiguity, fraternal angst, swamp fever, hostile natives, transportation, slavery, escapes, a cynical parrot, dungeons, hangings, treasure... hooray! I will never forgive the script writers for what happens to my favourite character at the end, though. Twenty-two years on, I am still traumatised. I know Mr. Garfield wrote it that way, but the book character is a blood-thirsty psychopath with no redeeming features, whereas... Sigh. I suppose it adds to the dramatic strength and poignancy.
The casting is uniformly excellent, with not a single bad performance. Matthias Habich (Captain and Lord Sharingham) is not only phenomenal as always, but manages to look extremely attractive while wearing what is essentially a German footballer's mullet with a bow stuck in. Patrick Bach (Jack Holborn) is surprisingly good for his age, never slipping into preciousness. The exteriors were done in Croatia and on Rarotonga (one of the Cook Islands), and work very well, even the shots of Dubrovnik pretending to be both Bristol and the island of Nautia! For the "Charming Molly" and several other vessels they used an actual sailing ship, and it shows. The music by Christian Bruhn is, apart from the cheesy bit mentioned above, actually very good, in particular the haunting harpsichord theme. I understand it's even available on CD now.
The DVD picture quality is fine, perhaps even a little better than one would have expected of a TV-series from 1982. My only beef with the German edition that I own is the complete lack of any bonus features and subtitles, even German ones, so there are still little bits of dialogue that I don't understand completely. But I am immensely grateful this is on DVD at all! Unreservedly recommended.
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