| Rhodes | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Life and Legend of Cecil Rhodes |
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Antony Thomas |
| Directed by | David Drury |
| Starring | Martin Shaw Frances Barber Neil Pearson Philip Godawa Frantz Dobrowsky Joe Shaw |
| Theme music composer | Alan Parker |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Rebecca Eaton Anthony Thomas Michael Wearing |
| Producers | Scott Meek Charles Salmon |
| Cinematography | Alec Curtis |
| Running time | 467 minutes |
| Production companies | WGBH Boston Zenith Entertainment in association withCanadian Broadcasting Corporation andSouth African Broadcasting Corporation forBBC |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC1 |
| Release | 15 September (1996-9-15) – 3 November 1996 (1996-11-3) |
Rhodes is an eight-part British television drama series about the life ofCecil Rhodes, a 19th century British adventurer, empire-builder and politician. It starredMartin Shaw as Rhodes, and was written byAntony Thomas.Rhodes received its British television debut on 15 September 1996, and concluded on 3 November. It was produced by Scott Meek and Charles Salmon, and directed by David Drury.[1][2]
At the time of its production,Rhodes was the most expensive project ever undertaken by a British television broadcaster, costing £10 million to make, and was seen as a huge gamble by the BBC. In addition, development, filming and production took a decade to complete, and the series employed over 10,000 extras. Forming part of BBC1's Autumn 1996 television programming, its opening episode was preceded by a high-profile publicity campaign. However, it quickly began to attract relatively poor viewing figures. Although 7.6 million tuned in for the first episode, by the following week viewing figures had fallen to 4.8 million. The series was also quickly panned by critics.[3]
On 26 September 1996, a report byThe Independent's Marianne MacDonald suggested one of the series' biggest issues was that it assumed its viewers would already have a prior knowledge of Cecil Rhodes' life and achievements, something which it turned out many of those watching it did not possess. In response to these concerns, the BBC produced a 32-page booklet to accompany the series that provided some background details about Rhodes, and which could be purchased for £4.99. However, copies of this book would not be available until at least four weeks into the series, by which time MacDonald felt that many viewers would have given up on it.[3]
Following the2000 adaptation ofGormenghast,Mervyn Peake's series of fantasy novels, which also proved to be unsuccessful with viewers and critics,Rhodes was included in a list of notable British television flops compiled byThe Guardian.[4]
The series tells the story of Rhodes' life through a series of flashbacks of conversations between him andPrincess Catherine Radziwiłł, and also between her and people who knew him. It also shows the story of how she stalked and eventually ruined him. In the serial, Cecil Rhodes is played byMartin Shaw, the younger Cecil Rhodes is played by his son Joe Shaw, and Princess Radziwiłł is played byFrances Barber. In the serial Rhodes is portrayed as ruthless and greedy. The serial also suggests that he was homosexual.[5]
Because of the dramatic slide in ratings,Rhodes was quickly deemed to have been a failure, prompting MacDonald to observe that the series was 'in danger of becoming a flop as colossal as its hero's exploits'. It was also quickly rounded on by a number of critics, who were equally as scathing. Writing forThe Sunday Times,A. A. Gill suggested it 'started with everything against it and then they made it all worse', whileDavid Aaronovitch ofThe Independent on Sunday criticized the overuse ofbackground music, observing 'the BBC's Rhodes is a man who cannot take a leak without the assistance of the Berlin Philharmonic'.[3]
However, despite the series' troubles the BBC were hopeful that it would enjoy more success internationally: A spokeswoman forBBC Worldwide said ofRhodes: 'It's obviously very disappointing about the ratings but it doesn't really affect international sales. Overseas broadcasters...tend not to go on what critics say here.'[3]
The complete series ofRhodes was released on VHS in 1997.[6] It was subsequently released on DVD byAcorn Media UK on 3 March 2008.[7]