Ray Winstone’s Elzevir Block runs the contraband trade in 1757 Moonfleet, a Dorset village of fog, ale and collapsing cliff paths. Aneurin Barnard’s orphaned John Trenchard begs to join the crew, partly to dodge his grim aunts and partly to chase Sophie Cookson’s Grace Mohune, whose father (a frosty Ben Chaplin) is the magistrate sworn to hang them all. The plot bolts from a crypt under the local church to the diamond bourses of The Hague, then to a storm-lashed ship where everyone’s loyalty is auctioned to the highest bidder.
Ashley Pharoah scripts with the same swagger he brought to Life on Mars, giving the dialogue a modern twitch without letting the 18th-century boots slip off. Andy De Emmony shoots the Irish locations like a postcard soaked in rum, all torchlight caves and salt-spray fights, while Nick Green’s score keeps the drums low and the strings high. Two 44-minute episodes mean no side-plots survive; every duelling pistol and secret passage earns its keep.
Sky dumped both parts across 28-29 December 2013, a festive ghost-ride that vanished as quickly as the contraband it celebrates. Released on DVD the following year, it now surfaces only when period-adventure completists trawl streaming catalogues for something that isn’t Poldark.
Production Details
Sky One / 1 Season / 2 Episodes / 2013
Created by: Ashley Pharoah
Writer(s): Ashley Pharoah
Music: Nick Green
Main Cast
Ben Chaplin as
Anthony Ofoegbu as Loder
Sophie Cookson as Grace Mohune
Phil Daniels as Ratsey
Ray Winstone as Elzevir Block
Aneurin Barnard as John Trenchard
Fionn Walton as Davey Block
