''Around the World in 80 Days'' is a

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

adventure television series based on the 1873

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

novel of the same name, in which, as a bet, Phileas Fogg travels the world in 80 days by train and ship. It was commissioned by the European Alliance, a co-production alliance of

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (former ...

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

of Germany, and

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

of Italy, with additional co-production partners of

Masterpiece A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

(US) and Be-Films/

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...

(Belgium). It was produced in the UK, France and South Africa, with filming also taking place in Romania. The series first premiered on

La Une La Une () is a Belgian national television channel, owned and operated by the French-language public-service broadcasting organization RTBF. La Une is the equivalent of Flemish station Eén, of the Flemish broadcaster VRT. History INR Expe ...

in Belgium, on 5 December 2021, and later on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

in the United Kingdom on 26 December 2021. In November 2021, ahead of the premiere, it was announced the programme had been renewed for a second series.

Premise

The story is about

Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg () is the protagonist in the 1872 Jules Verne novel ''Around the World in Eighty Days''. Inspirations for the character were the American entrepreneur George Francis Train and American writer and adventurer William Perry Fogg. ...

making a £20,000 (£2,409,600 in 2022) wager with a snobbish member of the prestigious

Reform Club The Reform Club is a private members' club on the south side of Pall Mall in central London, England. As with all of London's original gentlemen's clubs, it comprised an all-male membership for decades, but it was one of the first all-male cl ...

that he can

circumnavigate Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magel ...

the world in 80 days, joined by his new valet Passepartout and journalist Abigail Fix. Although the story is fictional, real-life people such as

Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic. Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...

Jane Digby Jane Elizabeth Digby (3 April 1807 – 11 August 1881) was an English aristocrat, famed for her remarkable love life and lifestyle. She had four husbands and many lovers, including Lord Ellenborough, Governor-General of India, King Ludwig ...

and

Bass Reeves Bass Reeves (July 1838 – January 12, 1910) was an American law enforcement official, historically noted as the first black United States Marshals Service, deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River. He worked mostly in Arkansas and the O ...

are portrayed interacting with the fictional characters.

Cast

Main

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

Ibrahim Koma Ibrahim Koma (born 5 November 1987) is a French actor. He began his career as a child actor in the film ''We Need a Holiday'' (2002) and the soap opera ''Sous le soleil'' (2002–2008). He has since starred in the films ''Asphalt Playground'' (20 ...

Jean Passepartout Jean Passepartout () is a fictional character in Jules Verne's novel ''Around the World in Eighty Days'', published in 1873. He is the French valet of the novel's English main character, Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg () is the protagonist in ...

Leonie Benesch Leonie Benesch (born 22 April 1991 in Hamburg) is a German actress who has played roles in major productions including ''Babylon Berlin ''and ''The Crown'', as well as ''Around the World in 80 Days''. She is currently based in London. Biography I ...

as Abigail Fix Fortescue

Recurring and guest

Jason Watkins Jason Watkins (born 28 October 1962) is an English stage, film and television actor. He played the lead role in the two-part drama ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies'', for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He has also ...

as Bernard Fortescue * Peter Sullivan as Nyle Bellamy * Richard Wilson as Grayson *Leon Clingman as Roberts *

Giovanni Scifoni Giovanni Scifoni (; born 23 May 1976 in Rome) is an Italian actor and theatre director. After musical studies (piano, singing) and first steps as a comic strip writer, he was selected to attend the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio ...

as Mr Moretti *

Anthony Flanagan Anthony Flanagan (born 11 April 1972) is an English actor most widely known for his portrayal of policeman Tony in Channel 4's comedy-drama series '' Shameless''. Biography Flanagan was born in Stockport, Cheshire. At school he was called Anth ...

as Thomas Kneedling *

Lindsay Duncan Lindsay Vere Duncan (born 7 November 1950) is a Scottish actress. On stage, she has won two Olivier Awards (for ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' and ''Private Lives'') and a Tony Award (for ''Private Lives''). She has starred in several plays by H ...

Shivaani Ghai Shivaani Ghai (born 25 April 1975) is an English actress. Early life Ghai is of Indian origin and was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. She grew up in Gosforth and attended Gosforth High School. Later, she went to university, where she gained a BA ...

Aouda Aouda (औद / ''Auda''), 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 ol ...

*Rizelle Januk as Samanaz *Walter van Dyk as Lord Crossley *

Victoria Smurfit Victoria Smurfit (born 31 March 1974) is an Irish actress. She is known for playing Orla O'Connell in the BBC television series ''Ballykissangel'', Detective Chief Inspector Roisin Connor in the ITV police procedural ''Trial & Retribution'' and ...

as Lady Clemency Rowbotham *Elena Saurel as Sally *

Gary Beadle Gary Beadle (born 8 July 1965) is a British actor, best known for playing Paul Trueman in '' EastEnders'' and Gary Barwick in ''Operation Good Guys''. Life and career Beadle was raised as one of five children in Bermondsey, South London, wh ...

Dolly Wells Dorothy Perpetua Wells (born Gatacre; 5 December 1971)Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, vol. III, 2003, pg 3046 is an English actress and writer. She co-wrote and starred in the Sky Living series ''Doll & Em'' (2014–2015) with Emily ...

as Estella *

Jeff Rawle Jeffrey Alan Rawle (born 20 July 1951) is an English actor. He is known for portraying George Dent in the news-gathering sitcom ''Drop the Dead Donkey''. He also portrayed Silas Blissett in ''Hollyoaks'' from December 2010 until 2012. Rawle retu ...

as Bank Manager Hughes

Episodes

Production

Filming locations included South Africa and Romania. Filming was suspended in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, but resumed on 1 October that year. In November 2021, ahead of the premiere, it was announced the series had been renewed for a second series. The main title score is by

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...

and Christian Lundberg.

Release

''Around the World in 80 Days'' first premiered in Belgium on 5 December 2021.

released the complete series online in Germany on 11 December 2021, with an on-air release from 21 December to 23 December. The series premiered on

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...

in France on 20 December 2021, and in Norway on

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

s streaming website on 25 December 2021, with linear broadcasting the following days during Boxing Week. In the United Kingdom the series premiered on

on 26 December 2021, and on

for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

in the United States on 2 January 2022.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 79% approval rating with an average rating of 6.4/10, based on 14 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Around the World in 80 Days'' sometimes stumbles when it tries to add modern resonance to Jules Verne's globetrotting epic, but the core cast make for terrific travel companions."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the series a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rebecca Nicholson of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave it four out five stars, praising its cast, production values and escapism, but found the first episode slow in its setup. ''The Telegraph'' gave it three out of five stars. Daniel Fienberg of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' felt the plot did not justify eight episodes, but praised Tennant's performance. Ed Cumming of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' gave it two stars, feeling the budget did not do the epic scope of the novel justice.

James Delingpole James Mark Court Delingpole (born 6 August 1965) is an English writer, journalist, and columnist who has written for a number of publications, including the '' Daily Mail'', the '' Daily Express'', ''The Times'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', and ' ...

in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' also gave a negative review of the series, complaining about its attempts to speak to contemporary political issues (though the original novel was also inspired by topical subjects of its own day, such as rapid technological progress and the growing travel industry). He criticized the updated characteristics of Fix and Passepartout, as well as inconsistencies such as Passepartout's lack of upset at the death of his brother.

References

External links

* * {{Around the World in 80 Days 2020s Australian drama television series 2020s British drama television series 2020s French drama television series 2020s German drama television series 2020s Italian drama television series 2021 Australian television series debuts 2021 British television series debuts 2021 French television series debuts 2021 German television series debuts 2021 Italian television series debuts Australian television series British adventure television series English-language television shows French adventure television series German adventure television series Italian adventure television series Television productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Television series set in the 1870s Television shows based on Around the World in Eighty Days Television shows filmed in Romania Television shows filmed in South Africa Television shows set in England