TV Show

TV-PG

67%

Benjamin Franklin

Documentary

An epic yarn spanning most of the 18th century, the series follows Franklin's career from humble beginnings in Boston to international superstardom: first as a scientist and revolutionary, and then as a founding father and America's first diplomat to France.

Nov 19, 20021 seasons3 episodesEndedEN

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Colm Feore

narrator

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Richard Easton

Benjamin Franklin

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Dylan Baker

Benjamin Franklin

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Gerry Bamman

Paul Wentworth

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Blair Brown

Jane Mecom

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Anthony Cochrane

George

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Peter Donaldson

John Adams

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Ronald Guttman

Le Comte de Vergennes

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Anthony Heald

Jonathan Austin

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Jefferson Mays

Elkanah Watson

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Brian Murray

Viscount Stormont

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Martin Rayner

Robert Whittington

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Natacha Roi

Mme. Britton de Jouy

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Sebastian Roché

French Aristocrat

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Seasons

Miniseries

3 episodes

Premiered Nov 19, 2002

Episodes

1–3 of 3

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Ep 1

Let the Experiment Be Made

Nov 19, 2002

Part 1: “Let the Experiment Be Made,” charts Franklin's first 47 years (he was born in 1706), a period that saw the birth of the Enlightenment. Franklin took it to heart, writing aphorisms based on it in his “Poor Richard's Almanack” and making life easier for his fellow Philadelphians by thinking up such things as public libraries and a volunteer fire department. Then there was electricity. Richard Easton plays Franklin (Dylan Baker plays a younger Franklin).

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Ep 2

The Making of a Revolutionary

Nov 19, 2002

Part 2 covers Franklin's years in England, beginning in 1757, when he was sent to London as an emissary for Pennsylvania on a mission to allow the colony to tax the Penn family's lands. Franklin arrived as an ardent admirer of the empire as well as a lover of the American colonies.

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Ep 3

The Chess Master

Nov 20, 2002

“The Chess Master” follows “America's native genius,” as historian Keith Arbour calls Franklin, through the final 14 years of his life, nine of which were spent in Paris as the rebellious colonies' ambassador to France. Franklin's first goal (aside from creating the U.S. foreign service on the fly) was to secure financial and military aid. He went about doing it in the same manner as he played chess.