Stellar 'Earth' captures life at sea
When Edmund Talbot climbs aboard a junky old warship in 1812 England, he feels prepared to weather a months-long voyage to Australia. An aristocrat, he carries with him his top hat, his journal, his wit, and his airs. But prestige and education mean nothing on this journey to the ends of the Earth, where everything comes down to wood against water, sanity against chaos. In the palm of the deep blue, being an aristocrat has more to do with nobility of heart than of birth.
It's hard to do justice to "To the Ends of the Earth" in a review, to recapture the way it powerfully transports the viewer into its own rotting, seesawing world. The excellent three-part "Masterpiece Theatre" miniseries, which begins tomorrow night at 9, takes place almost entirely on the rocking vessel, and you can almost feel the travelers' seasickness and longing for land. The production is so richly designed by Donal Woods , it fully evokes the misery of the claustrophobic cabins and their briny stench.
"To the Ends of the Earth" is adapted from the 1980s trilogy written by William Golding , author of "Lord of the Flies." Edmund Talbot is the nephew of a lord, and he thinks quite highly of himself as he walks the ship's decks. He would be a comic figure, almost a caricature, but in the course of his story he faces the kinds of hardship and psychological disruptions that reveal him as a complicated man. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch also brings depth to Edmund, never allowing him to be merely laughable. He makes it poignant to watch Edmund find that his gentlemanly manners are useless at sea. Cumberbatch delivers a fascinatingly faceted performance.
The other central characters include a radical thinker named Mr. Prettiman, played as a cantankerous idealist by Sam Neill ; the socially crude Captain Anderson, played by Jared Harris ; and the principled governess Miss Granham, played by Victoria Hamilton. But behind them are a population of ship hands and passengers who wind in and out of Edmund's story. The first episode follows the fate of Parson Colley (Daniel Evans), who becomes hated by the crew and driven to ignominy. In episodes 2 and 3, Edmund sees illness strike others, suffers injuries of his own, and falls in love. But episode 1 is the most incisive, as it shows how shame can be like drowning.
The only weakness in the miniseries is one that isn't uncommon in British productions. Some of the dialogue, particularly that spoken by the ship's gritty crew, is so thickly accented it's hard to follow. Fortunately, the gist of those conversations becomes clear with time, and the story itself doesn't suffer.
"To the Ends of the Earth" will appeal to fans of "Master and Commander"-style adventure dramas. And it explores social hierarchies and how they change in primitive situations, not unlike "Lord of the Flies," or even ABC's "Lost." But this "Masterpiece Theatre" is an original, a perilous trip for adults that strips cowardice and heroism down to their essentials.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. 
