Set in the 1700s, this British/Canadian/West German co-production starred Patrick Bach as 13-year-old orphan Jack Holborn – so named because he was found as a baby on the steps of Holborn Catholic Church in Holborn, London, wearing a leather armband with the name “Jack” on it.
We first meet Jack as he is appearing before the magistrate, Lord Sharingham (Matthias Habich), in Bristol in 1787.
Jack wants to be a ship’s boy but instead is assigned to work for a local family of sail-makers and cobblers, despite the magistrate’s twin brother, the privateer Captain Sharingham (also Matthias Habich), offering to take him aboard his ship, the Charming Molly.
The magistrate accuses his brother of dealings with pirates and vows to bring him to justice and clear the family name.
And so Jack sneaks onboard the Charming Molly, and his adventures begin – on land and upon the high seas – with never a dull moment in the entire six hours of the series as Jack (and the viewer) encounters betrayals, swordplay, pistols, muskets, stowaways, ruses, disguises, broadsides, boarding, spying, duels, storms, shipwrecks, mutinies, flogging, romance, revenge, cruelty, mercy, moral ambiguity, swamp fever, hostile natives, transportation, slavery (and escapes), dungeons, hangings, treasure, and a mysterious lady and a cynical parrot. Phew!
The Captain comments that Jack’s armband looks familiar but refuses to tell Jack what he knows.
The series was repackaged for British distribution into 12 x 25 minute episodes.
The series interiors were filmed in Auckland, New Zealand, with location shooting in Yugoslavia (now Croatia) and the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Jack Holborn
Patrick Bach Captain Sharingham/Lord Sharingham
Matthias Habich Vronsky
Andreas Mannkopff Solomon Trumpet
Monte Markham Morris
Terence Cooper Captain Cox
Brian Flegg Pobjoy
Jeremy Stephens Lady Myra
Patricia James Admiral
Patrick Smyth Hafenmeister
David Weatherley Palmer
Zoran Pokupec Clarke
Heinz Wanitschek Sam
Miodrag ‘Miki’ Krstovic Bootsmann
Frano Lasic Thompson
Prince Tui Teka Mr Arrows
Dragan Lakovic Mrs Arrows
Ljiljana Krstic Downs
Bozidar Pavicevic-Longa Gracechurch
Johnny Bond Taploe
Franz Blauensteiner Yoka
Teresa Waiariki Fox
Stojan ‘Stole’ Arandjelovic Fared
Dusan Janicijevic Carfax
Jovan Janicijevic-Burdus
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Jack wants to be a ship’s boy but instead is assigned to work for a local family of sail-makers and cobblers, despite the magistrate’s twin brother, the privateer Captain Sharingham (also Matthias Habich), offering to take him aboard his ship, the Charming Molly.
The series interiors were filmed in Auckland, New Zealand, with location shooting in Yugoslavia (now Croatia) and the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
