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A late arrival for the popular swashbuckling cycle of the mid- to late-1950s,
Sir Francis Drake proved itself a rather dignified effort in comparison to the
previous period actioners. Producer Anthony Bushell (an actor who had turned to
production; he had been Olivier's associate producer on Hamlet in 1948)
delivered a robust melodrama that was often as much cloak-and-dagger doings as
high seas privateering.
Imbued with zest for the romantic patriotism of Elizabethan times, the series
brought considerable pictorial imagination to its small-screen presentation:
sunlight and shadow effects, eerily confined narrow streets, sumptuous palace
interiors, and decorative Spanish costumes and courtiers of the time of Philip
II of Spain.
The storyline broadly traced the adventures of the piratical sea fighter,
commander of the legendary 'Golden Hind', as he preyed on Spanish commerce in
the late 16th century and outwitted various Spanish agents intent on forcing an
unprepared England into open war with Spain.
Terence Morgan's Drake, endowed from the start with an uncanny
self-confidence, struck exactly the right balance between poker-faced laconism
and Errol Flynn-like exuberance. By contrast, Jean Kent, in a finely measured
performance, walked through it all with great patience and dignity as a suitably
regal Elizabeth I - though, at times, there were unmistakable moments of
dewy-eyed expectation whenever she and the virile Drake convened privately to
plot conspiracies against Spain.
Making up the patchwork members of Drake's regular crew were a young Michael
Crawford as Drake's wide-eyed nephew John and Milton Reid as the mountainous,
glowering Diego, with Patrick McLoughlin's Trevelyan and Howard Lang's Grenville
as the stock British officer class. The recurring villain of the piece was the
scheming Spanish Ambassador, Mendoza, played by the saturnine Roger Delgado with
enough venom to sustain the entire Spanish Inquisition for years.
The interior sets and designs of Allan Harris and the highly decorative
costumes of Beatrice Dawson remain impressive and memorable, an ornate and
detailed splendour that rewarded the eye but still begged for that finishing
touch of colour cinematography.
Tise Vahimagi
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