As originally broadcast on the BBC in 2005,
To the Ends of the Earth
is a miniseries adaptation of three sequential novels by Nobel Laureate William Golding:
Rites of Passage
(1980),
Close Quarters
(1987) and
Fire Down Below
(1989). An adventure saga, it unfolds in the same time and place as Peter Weir's
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
- the high seas of the late 19th century. Against this backdrop, a young British aristocrat named Edmund Talbot (Benedict Cumberbatch) boards a British warship and undertakes a voyage to Australia, where he has been given a post in the colonial government. The program subsequently follows Edmund's adventures, in career and romance. The supporting cast includes Jared Harris, Joanna Page, Sam Neill and Charles Dance.