''The Wanderer'' is a fantasy drama television miniseries of a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

origin, first transmitted on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

from 14 September to 7 December 1994, and comprising 13 hour-long episodes."Happy Wanderer", '' Daily Record'', 20 August 1994 (p. 34) "The Wanderer", ''

TV Zone ''TV Zone'' is a British magazine that was published every four weeks by Visual Imagination that covered cult television. Initially, it mostly covered science fiction, but branched out to cover other drama and comedy series. History ''TV Zone'' ...

Magazine, October 1994 (pp. 26-29)."Tonight's TV", ''

Evening Herald ''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Ev ...

'', 14 September 1994 (p.34) Every episode brings a new adventure, and the story of long-ago brothers Adam and Zachary, Princess Beatrice, and Lady Clare slowly unfolds as the present-day Adam searches for the original Zachary's grave, a magic stone, and a lost book of power.

Premise

The central characters of the programme were created, and its core format was developed, by

Tom Gabbay Tom Gabbay (born April 1, 1953) is a United States novelist and screenwriter, best known for the Jack Teller series of historical spy thrillers. Gabbay was born in Bloomington, Indiana. In his early career, he contributed political cartoons to ...

, who also served as executive producer of the series, which was filmed on locations in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, including

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Helmsley Castle Helmsley Castle (also known anciently as ''Hamlake'') is a medieval castle situated in the market town of Helmsley, within the North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England. History Although the estate of Helmsley was granted to Ro ...

and the

Yorkshire Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of i ...

, made by FingerTip Films (a partnership between

Roy Clarke Royston Clarke Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 28 January 1930), usually known as Roy Clarke, is an English comedy writer best known for creating the sitcoms ''Last of the Summer Wine'', ''Keeping Up Appearances'', ''Open All Hours'' a ...

, who wrote the scripts, and producer Steve Lanning) for

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

with

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

(United Kingdom),

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 ...

(Germany), and Antena 3 (Spain).

Bob Mahoney Robert Paul Mahoney (June 20, 1928 – August 27, 2000) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee ...

directed ''Rebirth'', the first episode of the series. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, ''The Wanderer'' was transmitted primarily in first-run syndication.

Opening narration

Beginning for the first episode: Beginning from episodes 2 to 13:

Plot summary

The shy multi-millionaire businessman Adam ("the Wanderer" of the programme's title) and his wicked twin brother Zachary (both played by Brown) are two former knights from the late 10th century during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

at the end of the 1st millennium, both of whom have been

born again Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sepa ...

(or reincarnated) in the late 20th century. Zachary is after a complicated revenge on Adam, who killed him in the year

A.D. The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

1000, but much more is at stake than mere vengeance. As the turn of the 3rd millennium is approaching, people are growing more superstitious, and Zachary plans to use this for his own purpose. He needs his brother Adam dead, and Adam's death to be seen by witnesses, so he can pose as Adam resurrected. The other players in both time-zones are Zachary's beautiful but deadly companion Beatrice (played by Thomson), Adam's friend Godbold (in the present day a philosophically-minded

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, and for sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

and

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

with a large beard, but once a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

and

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

, played by Haygarth), and Adam's 10th century lover Lady Clare (played by Moore). She has come back in the present day as Clare, a high-spirited photographer, and she does not plan to lose her man a second time. Wolfgang Mathias (played by Tausig) is Adam's personal assistant. Unfortunately for him, as he himself has no roots in the 10th century, he finds virtually everything about the Wanderer's world extremely confusing.

Cast

Main characters

Notable guest stars

Episode list

Home media availability

ITV Studios Home Entertainment, owners of the copyright to ''The Wanderer'', was not known to have released it on home media in any format as of the beginning of August 2014.

Reception

'' magazine, surveying the ratings for TV shows aired on Sky One, noted that ''The Wanderer's'' debut episode was watched by 0.46 million UK viewers."Ratings Review", ''TV Zone'' Magazine, Issue 63, February 1995 (pg. 4) Subsequently, the show's episodes had lower ratings, gaining fewer viewers than Sky One's showings of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Highlander: The Series''. The magazine concluded ''"Unless it

he Wanderer He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

performs well in other territories, a long life is not expected".'' According to TV historian Milly Buonanno, ''The Wanderer'' was "an absolute failure according to audience ratings".Milly Buonanno, ''Shifting landscapes : television fiction in Europe'' University of Luton Press, 1999. (p. 153) Unhappy with the show's performance, ZDF ceased showing ''The Wanderer'' after the third episode.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wanderer (TV series), The Sky UK original programming 1994 British television series debuts 1994 British television series endings 1990s British drama television series British fantasy television series Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Yorkshire Television 1990s British television miniseries English-language television shows Television about magic