Around the World in 80 Days (miniseries)

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Around the World in 80 Days
Around the World in 80 Days DVD Sleeve.jpg
DVD sleeve artwork
Based onAround the World in 80 Days
by Jules Verne
Written by John Gay
Directed by Buzz Kulik
Starring Pierce Brosnan
Eric Idle
Julia Nickson
Ian McNeice
Theme music composer Billy Goldenberg
Country of originUnited States
Italy
Yugoslavia
Germany
No. of episodes3
Production
Executive producerRenée Valente
ProducerPaul Baerwald
CinematographyNicholas D. Knowland
EditorsDavid Beatty
Les Green
Peter Parasheles
Running time266 minutes
Production companies Avala Film
Harmony Gold
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseApril 16 (1989-04-16) 
April 18, 1989 (1989-04-18)

Around the World in 80 Days is a three-part television miniseries originally broadcast on NBC from April 16 to 18, 1989. [1] The production garnered three nominations for Emmy awards that year. [2] The teleplay by John Gay is based on the 1873 Jules Verne novel of the same title. [3]

Contents

Plot

The plot centres around Phileas Fogg (Pierce Brosnan) making a £30,000 wager with three members of the Reform Club that he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days. He takes with him his newly employed French valet Passepartout (Eric Idle), and is pursued by Detective Wilbur Fix (Peter Ustinov) who mistakenly thinks Fogg robbed the Bank of England and is using the wager as a cover to escape capture.

Cast

Development

Starring Pierce Brosnan as Phileas Fogg, Eric Idle as Passepartout, Julia Nickson as Princess Aouda, and Peter Ustinov as Detective Fix, the miniseries featured multiple cameo appearances, including Patrick Macnee, Simon Ward, and Christopher Lee as members of the Reform Club, and Robert Morley, who had a cameo in the 1956 film adaptation, and Roddy McDowall appear as officials of the Bank of England. [4] Other familiar faces, credited as guest stars and in more substantial roles, include John Mills (who also appeared in the 1956 film version), Jack Klugman, Darren McGavin, John Hillerman and Henry Gibson. [3]

The heroes travel a slightly different route than in the book, and the script makes several contemporary celebrities part of the story who were not mentioned in the book, such as Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Pasteur, Jesse James, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Empress Dowager Cixi, and Queen Victoria.

The miniseries was filmed on location in England, Macau, Hong Kong, Thailand and Yugoslavia.

Viewership

Television ratings for Around the World in 80 Days
No.TitleAir dateTimeslot (ET) Rating/share
(households)
Viewers
(millions)
Ref(s)
1"Part 1"April 16, 1989Sunday 9:00 p.m.15.5/2424.4 [5]
2"Part 2"April 17, 1989Monday 9:00 p.m.13.2/2119.4 [6]
3"Part 3"April 18, 1989Tuesday 9:00 p.m.13.0/2119.3 [6]

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Around the World in Eighty Days is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a wager of £20,000 set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is one of Verne's most acclaimed works.

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Aouda, a character in Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, is an Indian princess accompanied by Phileas Fogg and Passepartout. The daughter of a Bombay Parsi merchant, she was married against her will to the old raja of Bundelkhand. At the death of her husband, she is about to be sacrificed by her husband's relatives and other people of their society as a sati at her husband's funeral pyre. Upon learning the circumstances of the sati and how this is all against Aouda's will, Fogg and company intervene and rescue her.

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References

  1. "Around the World in 80 Days - what time is it on TV? Episode 3 Series 1 cast list and preview".[ permanent dead link ]
  2. "AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS". Television Academy.
  3. 1 2 "Jules Verne's around the World in 80 Days (1989)". BFI. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018.
  4. "Around the World in 80 Days (1989) - | Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
  5. "Nielsen ratings". USA Today . 19 April 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest   306176608.
  6. 1 2 "Nielsen ratings". USA Today . 26 April 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest   306174966.