Crusoe (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Crusoe is a television adventure drama (with comedic elements) based loosely on the novel Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...

by Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...

. The series' 13 episodes aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 during the first half of the 2008-2009 television season. It follows the adventures of Robinson Crusoe: a man who has been shipwrecked on an island for six years and is desperate to return home to his wife and children. His lone companion is Friday, a native whom Crusoe rescued and taught English.

Production

The show was made by the independent, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

-based production company Power for the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 network and is a co-production by Power, Moonlighting in South Africa, and Muse Entertainment in Canada. Power has claimed this is the first time a US network "commissioned a British supplier for nearly 40 years". Justin Bodle is the executive producer for Power, with Michael Prupas executive producer for Muse Entertainment and Genevieve Hofmeyr for Moonlighting. Other executive producers are Jeff Hayes, Stephen Greenberg and Jean Bureau. The series format has been developed for television by British writer Stephen Gallagher
Stephen Gallagher
Stephen Gallagher is an English writer.He has written several novels and television scripts, including for the BBC television series Doctor Who — for which he wrote two serials, Warriors' Gate and Terminus — as well as for the series Rosemary & Thyme and Bugs, for two seasons of...

 with a writing staff that includes Andrew Rattenbury
Andrew Rattenbury
Andrew Rattenbury is a British television writer who has written for several television programmes including Absolute Power, Monarch of the Glen, Casualty, Holby City, Primeval, Teachers, and, Peak Practice.-External links:...

, Debbie Oates, Nick Fisher and James Moran
James Moran (writer)
James Moran is a British screenwriter for television and film, who wrote the horror-comedy Severance. He works in the horror, comedy, science-fiction, historical fiction and spy thriller genres.-Breaking in:...

.

Filming

Filming began in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in May 2008 with an estimated budget of £17 million. Exterior footage was shot around York in location including St William's College, The Shambles, St. Leonard's hospital, the River Ouse
River Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...

, and York's Guildhall
Guildhall, York
York Guildhall is located behind the York's Mansion House and was built in the 15th century, it served as a meeting place for the guilds of York...

. Scenes were also shot in Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...

, North Yorkshire on the replica frigate the Grand Turk
Grand Turk (frigate)
The Grand Turk was the original name of a three-masted sixth-rate frigate, that was designed to represent a generic Nelson age warship replica, with its design greatly inspired by HMS Blandford...

. In early June filming moved to the North Yorkshire Moors using the backdrop of the Ryedale Folk Museum, in Hutton-le-Hole
Hutton-le-Hole
Hutton-le-Hole is a very small village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England, about seven miles north west of Pickering. Hutton-le-Hole is a honeypot village...

. Other filming locations for the series are the Garden Route
Garden Route
The Garden Route is a popular stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa. It stretches from Heidelberg in the Western Cape to the Storms River which is crossed along the N2 coastal highway over the Paul Sauer Bridge in the extreme western reach of the neighbouring Eastern Cape...

 in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....


Broadcast history

The series premiered in the US in the fall of 2008. NBC ran a heavy promotion campaign during its screening of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games. The show has been sold to other countries including Canada. The two hour series premiere aired on October 17, 2008 at 8pm, on NBC and Citytv in Canada and originally aired on Friday nights. However, beginning in December 2008, the show moved to Saturdays, due to low ratings. The show was named one of the five worst new television shows in TelevisionWeek
TelevisionWeek
TelevisionWeek is a trade magazine delivering news, analysis and data on television and media. It was founded in 1982 as Electronic Media. It is currently owned by Crain Communications Inc.. The current editor is Greg Baumann. The corporate and circulation departments are based at Crain's...

’s semiannual Critics Poll.

Crusoe was initially promoted as a regular TV show but, after the first few episodes aired (with poor ratings), the network listed it as a "high-action, fast-paced, thirteen-part series." NBC hasn't announced any plans to continue Crusoe past the 13 episodes.

In the UK, Crusoe will premiere with a double-bill on FTA Terrestrial Channel Five on Sunday 20th December at 11:50am. It is then stripped daily across the festive period for the full 13 episodes.

In Vietnam, it was aired on VTC7-Today TV
Vietnam Multimedia Corporation
Vietnam Multimedia Corporation or Vietnam Television Corporation is a large multimedia corporation in Vietnam. It was founded on February, 1988 by Vietnam Television with the main purpose to construct television stations...

 from April 26 to June 07, 2009.

Cast and characters

Name Actor or actress Episode count
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...

 
Philip Winchester
Philip Winchester
Philip C. Winchester is an American actor. He is known for his roles in The Patriot, The Hi-Line, LD 50 Lethal Dose, Thunderbirds, CSI: Miami, King Lear, Flyboys, In My Sleep, The Heart of the Earth, and Shaking Dream Land.- Early life and career :Philip C...

 
12
He has been shipwrecked on the island for the past six years, and desperately desires to return to his wife and children, whom he left back in England. He goes on the voyage to the new world after he is wrongly accused of being a part of a rebellion against the crown, due in part to the dark intentions of those he believes are his friends. As the series progresses, more information is revealed about how he became shipwrecked in the form of flashbacks and cutaways. Allowed to develop away from the bonds of 17th Century life and possessing a talent for things mechanical, the ingenious Crusoe builds a breathtaking and altogether modern home high up in the trees to elude his enemies.
Friday
Man Friday
Friday is one of the main characters of Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe names the man, with whom he cannot at first communicate, Friday because they first meet on that day...

 
Tongayi Chirisa
Tongayi Chirisa
Tongayi Arnold Chirisa is a Zimbabwean actor, experienced in theatre, film, and television. He is also a noted singer.-Acting career:He played the part of "Detective Trevor Davies" in the ever-popular Zimbabwean soapie Studio 263...

 
12
He becomes Crusoe's companion after he is rescued from being a human sacrifice for the tribe of cannibals he was once a part of. Friday is well skilled and knowledgeable, but still feels as though he is an embarrassment to his father. While Crusoe recognizes Friday's wisdom and courage as more than equal to his own, visitors to the island mistake Friday for Crusoe's slave, and are unwilling to see past the color of his skin and simply refer to him as a "savage".
Santos Santana Joaquim de Almeida
Joaquim de Almeida
Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese-born American actor. He began his acting doing some theater. During the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film The Soldier, and later achieved recognition for playing Andrea Bonanno in the 1987 Italian film...

 
3
He is the Captain of the Spanish Guard who was originally an enemy of Crusoe and Friday. Santana is disgusted by Crusoe's respect for Friday, and makes a deal with his prisoners in order to obtain a treasure buried on the island. However, he appears to have turned over a new leaf after he is captured by cannibals and befriends Friday's father. After escaping the cannibals, he risks his life to save someone he once believed to be a savage, and sustains life-threatening injuries.
Olivia Mia Maestro
Mía Maestro
Mía Maestro is an Argentine actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Nadia Santos in the television drama Alias, and as Christina Kahlo in Frida.-Life and acting career:...

 
7
She disguises herself as a young man in order to serve as an assistant physician on an English merchant ship. After the crew mutiny's, the ship becomes damaged and the crew makes camp on the island, where Olivia encounters Crusoe and Friday while bathing and out of her disguise. She often helps Crusoe with medical emergencies, and agrees to help Crusoe restore the Captain to power. However, she begins to develop romantic feelings for Crusoe, who remains faithful and in love with his wife.
Jeremiah Blackthorn Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....

 
11
He is a friend (at least he claims to be)of the Crusoe family who takes an interest in Robinson's affairs. He agrees to lend the family money in exchange for being named godfather to Crusoe's two children. As the series progresses, it becomes clear that Jeremiah's interest in the Crusoe family is for his own gain. Jeremiah's deceased brother from whom he inherited his fortune is actually the biological father of Robinson Crusoe. He is then not the rightful heir to the Blackthorn fortune, instead it is Robinson Crusoe who should be the rightful heir.
Susannah Crusoe née Tuffley Anna Walton
Anna Walton
Anna Walton is an English actress. Known for her roles in Vampire Diary and Mutant Chronicles, her biggest role so far is the compassionate Princess Nuala in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, also starring her fellow Mutant co-star Ron Perlman as Hellboy...

 
12
She is a childhood friend of Crusoe's whom he later married. Like Crusoe, she lost her mother at a young age, and was raised solely by her father. However, her family is much more wealthy than the Crusoes, which makes most of her family hostile towards her husband. Her brother convinces Crusoe to make a financial deal with him, and seizes all of his funds once Crusoe leaves on his voyage, forcing Susannah to seek refuge in the home of Jeremiah Blackthorn. She refuses to believe that Crusoe is dead, despite being told otherwise.


Other Characters include James Crusoe (Sean Bean
Sean Bean
Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...

), Samuel Tuffley (Mark Dexter
Mark Dexter
Mark Dexter is a British RADA trained actor.Dexter's early successes were on stage, in particular with two high-profile productions of Tennessee Williams plays, beginning with Sam Mendes' 1995 Olivier Award winning production of The Glass Menagerie at the Donmar Warehouse, in which he played The...

), Nathan West (Kieran Bew
Kieran Bew
| website = http://vimeo.com/16285721Kieran Bew is an English actor, known for portraying Avi Gellman in Personal Affairs, and Gary Parr in BBC1's BAFTA award winning The Street.-Background:...

), Mary Crusoe (Emma Barnett), Captain Lynch (Jonathan Pienaar
Jonathan Pienaar
Jonathan Pienaar is a South African writer, actor, voice-over artist and comedian who has been active for over 20 years. He has appeared in numerous South African and international films and television shows including Blood Diamond, Crusoe, and Wild At Heart.-References:Films Jonathan Pienaar has...

), Judy (Georgina Rylance
Georgina Rylance
Georgina Elizabeth Rylance , English actress, best known for Dinotopia.-Early life:Rylance is the daughter of Judge John Rylance QC, a circuit judge....

), Will Atkins (Jeremy Crutchley), Cleric (James Middlemarch
James Middlemarch
James Middlemarch was born in Harrogate 13 July 1964 and shortly afterwards adopted into a Royal Air Force family. The young boy, who was to become James Middlemarch the actor spent most of his childhood moving from one location to the next...

), Nolan Moore (Sean Michael
Sean Michael (South African actor)
Sean Cameron Michael is a South African actor, writer and singer. A native English speaker, he is also fluent in Afrikaans.-Early life:...

), John Tuffley (Terence Harvey), Judge Jefferies (Joss Ackland
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...

), and Captain Taylor (Danny Keogh).

Episodes

# Title Writer(s) Director Original airdate

Ratings

# Episode Air date Viewers
(m)
Rank (#)
1.01 / 1.02 Rum and Gunpowder 10-17-08 7.38 49/100
1.03 Sacrifice 10-24-08 6.09 63/101
1.04 The Mutineers 10-31-08 4.09 83/103
1.05 High Water 11-7-08 4.20 79/95
1.06 Long Pig 11-14-08 4.23 78/98
1.07 Bad Blood 11-21-08 3.56 81/96
1.08 Heroes & Villains 12-06-08 2.07 TBA
1.09 The Name of the Game 12-20-08 2.88 TBA
1.10 Smoke and Mirrors 01-10-09 2.82 TBA
1.11 The Hunting Party 01-17-09 2.76 TBA
1.12 The Traveler 01-24-09 2.85 TBA
1.13 The Return 01-31-09 3.12 TBA

Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

offered all 12 episodes from Season 1 until Sept. 19, 2010.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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