Shackleton | |
---|---|
Genre | Biography, drama |
Written by | Charles Sturridge |
Directed by | Charles Sturridge |
Starring | Kenneth Branagh |
Theme music composer | Adrian Johnston |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original languages | English Norwegian German |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 2 |
Production | |
Producer | Selwyn Roberts |
Cinematography | Henry Braham |
Editor | Peter Coulson |
Running time | 206 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Channel 4 |
Release | 2 January – 3 January 2002 |
Shackleton is a 2002 British television miniseries. It was written and directed by Charles Sturridge and starring Kenneth Branagh as explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. The film tells the true story of Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition on the ship Endurance . The cast includes Kevin McNally, Lorcan Cranitch, Embeth Davidtz, Danny Webb, Matt Day and Phoebe Nicholls (also the director's wife) as Lady Shackleton. It was filmed in the UK, Iceland and Greenland. The film used first-hand accounts by the men on the expedition to retell the story. Shackleton biographer Roland Huntford was a production advisor.
Shackleton was first broadcast in two parts by Channel 4 in January 2002. In North America the film was first broadcast by the A&E Network in April 2002. The film was nominated for seven Emmy Awards, [1] six BAFTA Awards, [2] and a Golden Globe Award. [3]
The films tells the true story of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (Kenneth Branagh) and his 1914 Antarctic expedition on the ship Endurance . The story begins with him planning the expedition and finding sponsors, particularly Sir James Caird. Shackleton's goal is to drive dog sled teams from one side of Antarctica to the other, which would make Britain the first nation to undertake such a trans-continental journey.
Once the expedition is underway, trouble arises due to thick sea ice and low temperatures. Endurance becomes trapped and eventually crushed by pack ice. Shackleton vows to find a way to rescue the men. He undertakes an epic journey across the ice, followed by 800 miles of the Southern Ocean and then an uncharted mountain range on South Georgia Island. He finds a whaling station from which rescue parties are sent to collect his entire shipwrecked crew. The otherwise failed expedition is made famous for every crew member surviving despite seemingly insurmountable odds.
(In order of appearance)
Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Golden Globe Awards [3] | Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Nominated | |
Primetime Emmy Awards [1] | Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Movie | Henry Braham (Part II) | Won |
Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) | Adrian Johnston (Part II) | Won | |
Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special | Peter Coulson (Part II) | Nominated | |
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Kenneth Branagh | Nominated | |
Outstanding Miniseries | Francesca Barra, Delia Fine, Emilio Nunez, Selwyn Roberts | Nominated | |
Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special | Kevin Brazier, Philip Barnes, Blair Jollands, Wayne Brooks | Nominated | |
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special | Charles Sturridge | Nominated | |
BAFTA Awards [2] | Best Drama Serial | Selwyn Roberts, Charles Sturridge | Won |
Best Costume Design | Shirley Russell | Won | |
Best Actor | Kenneth Branagh | Nominated | |
Best Editing (Fiction/Entertainment) | Peter Coulson | Nominated | |
Best Photography and Lighting (Fiction/Entertainment) | Henry Braham | Nominated | |
Best Production Design | Michael Howells | Nominated | |
Cinema Audio Society Awards | Outstanding Sound Mixing for Television, MOW's and Mini-Series | Dave Humphries, John Rodda (Part I) | Won |
Producers Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television | Selwyn Roberts | Nominated |
Royal Television Society | Best Art Director | Lynne Huitson, Matthew Robinson | Won |
Best Production Design, Drama | Michael Howells | Nominated | |
Best Make Up Design, Drama | Jeremy Woodhead | Nominated | |
Satellite Awards | Best Miniseries | Nominated |
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Charles B. G. Sturridge is an English director and screenwriter. He is the recipient of a BAFTA Children's Award and four BAFTA TV Awards. He has also been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Lorcan Cranitch is an Irish actor.
The voyage of the James Caird was a journey of 1,300 kilometres (800 mi) from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands through the Southern Ocean to South Georgia, undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions to obtain rescue for the main body of the stranded Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. Many historians regard the voyage of the crew in a 22.5-foot (6.9 m) ship's boat through the "Furious Fifties" as the greatest small-boat journey ever completed.
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. After Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition in 1911, this crossing remained, in Shackleton's words, the "one great main object of Antarctic journeyings". Shackleton's expedition failed to accomplish this objective but became recognized instead as an epic feat of endurance.
Endurance was the three-masted barquentine in which Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 men sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The ship, originally named Polaris, was built at Framnæs shipyard and launched in 1912 from Sandefjord in Norway. When one of her commissioners, the Belgian Adrien de Gerlache, went bankrupt, the remaining one sold the ship for less than the shipyard had charged – but as Lars Christensen was the owner of Polaris, there was no hardship involved. The ship was bought by Shackleton in January 1914 for the expedition, which would be her first voyage. A year later, she became trapped in pack ice and finally sank in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica on 21 November 1915. All of the crew survived her sinking and were eventually rescued in 1916 after using the ship's boats to travel to Elephant Island and Shackleton, the ship's captain Frank Worsley, and four others made a voyage to seek help.
Timothy John Jarvis is an English and Australian explorer, climber, author, environmental activist, and documentary filmmaker. He is best known for his numerous Antarctic expeditions, particularly his attempted Antarctic crossing in 1999 and the period recreations of historical treks by Sir Douglas Mawson and Sir Ernest Shackleton.
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, is a 1959 book written by Alfred Lansing, about the failure of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, in its attempt to cross the Antarctic continent in 1914.
John Robert Francis Wild was an English sailor and explorer. He participated in five expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, for which he was awarded the Polar Medal with four bars, one of only two men to be so honoured, the other being Ernest Joyce.
Perce Blackborow (1896–1949) was a Welsh sailor and a stowaway on Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917.
The Endurance is a 2000 documentary film directed by George Butler about Ernest Shackleton's legendary Antarctic expedition in 1914. It is based on the book of the same name. Endurance was the name of the ship of Shackleton's expedition. Butler followed it up the next year with another documentary about Shackleton's expedition titled Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure.
Mrs Chippy was a male ship's cat who accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917.
Henry McNish, often referred to as Harry McNish or by the nickname Chippy, was the carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. He was responsible for much of the work that ensured the crew's survival after their ship, the Endurance, was destroyed when it became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea. He modified the small boat, James Caird, that allowed Shackleton and five men to make a voyage of hundreds of miles to fetch help for the rest of the crew.
John William Vincent was an English seaman and member of Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. He was one of the five men who accompanied Shackleton on his epic crossing from Elephant Island to South Georgia and was one of only four of the crew of Endurance not to receive the Polar Medal.
Dr Robert Selbie Clark was a Scottish marine zoologist and explorer. He was the biologist on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917, and served as the director of the Scottish Home Department Marine Laboratory, at Torry, Aberdeen.
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was an attempt to cross the Antarctic continent led by Ernest Shackleton. The personnel were divided into two groups: the Weddell Sea party consisting of the men who would attempt the crossing and their support, and the Ross Sea party whose job it was to lay stores on the far side of the Pole for the members of the Weddell Sea party who would make the crossing. Both arms of the expedition had a final complement of 28 men. The Weddell Sea party's ship Endurance was crushed in pack ice and the crossing attempt was never made. All the Weddell Sea party were rescued, but several members of the Ross Sea party perished after their support ship Aurora broke free from its mooring post and drifted away, leaving the shore party stranded.
Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure is an IMAX film about the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton between 1914 and 1917. Directed by George Butler, the film was released in February 2001 and was narrated by Kevin Spacey. It documents Shackleton's journey aboard the Endurance and was the follow-up to Butler's previous film, The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition.
Timothy McCarthy was an Irish leading seaman (LB). He is best known for his service in the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, for which he was awarded the Bronze Polar Medal.
Emily Shackleton, also known as Lady Shackleton, was the wife of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and the mother of Labour Party politician Edward Shackleton. In later life, she was involved in the Girl Guides movement. Her brother was cricketer Arthur Dorman.
South is a book by Ernest Shackleton describing the second expedition to Antarctica led by him, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914 to 1917. It was published in London by William Heinemann in 1919.