I loved the first Hornblower, liked the second then arrived at this one... Beats me why it has such a high rating as it lacked so much, the acting at times questionable and the story flawed on so many levels. Large parts of this drama seem to hang with not a lot happening, I don't know, maybe that's the direction at fault, it just does not flow right. I actually laughed out loud at some of the acting mostly due to the bad accents, I mean an aristocratic Duchess with a northern accent. I know there's a twist to her character but no need to make her a Northern lass. The Hornblower character at times is wooden and at other times he's an arrogant control freak, I just can't warm to him anymore. This could have been so much more with the right attention to detail. There are good points but these are mostly at sea on board ship. It just gets wrecked when they reach land. Not awful but not great either.

SPOILERS As Shakespeare's Henry V once said "once more unto the breach dear friends, once more". Applicable in so many situations, this phrase feels particularly appropriate when considering the adventures of Horatio Hornblower. In this third and finest episode, Hornblower once more faces countless odds and once more he entertains throughout.Still serving aboard Captain Pellew's (Robert Lindsay) Indefatigable, Horatio Hornblower (Ioan Gruffudd) experiences a new side to life when he is invited to dine with the Governor of Gibraltar. Escorting the flamboyant Duchess of Wharfedale (Cherie Lunghi) back to England, Horatio is then captured by the Spanish as a Prisoner of War. Now with an obligation to escape, he ponders his next move, with the lives of his crew, old friend Archie (Jamie Bamber) and the Duchess all at stake.Led by yet another great performance by Gruffudd (it's slowly becoming expected), this episode is the finest episode of the series due to the majestic performances by one guest appearance and one reoccurring regular.As the extreme Duchess, Cherie Lunghi must surely give the finest performance of her career. Appearing in television series and films since 1973, Lunghi is at her best as she walks around in the classical outfits and works with Gruffudd and others.Not to be outdone however, Jamie Bamber is this episodes other shining reemergence. Back (by popular demand, not just due to the plot) from the apparent grave, Bamber's Archie is a shadow of his former self. Far from well, the character must not have been an easy role to play. Bamber performs brilliantly however and demonstrates an ability which science fiction fans come to love in the modern remake of "Battlestar Galactica".Compared with the slow pace of the previous episode, the scripting of this third encounter is a considerable improvement too. Not purely action based, it sustains enough moments of excitement to really keep up the intensity, but it also features some moments of comedy from Cherie Lunghi's Countess. Basically, this episode's plot manages to contain not only the intensity of the pilot and the grit of the second, but it manages much more too.In a near perfect series, it should be difficult to choose an episode which stands out. Amazingly though, the creators of the Hornblower series managed with "The Duchess and the Devil" to not only outshine their previous two episodes, but to create an episode which outshines all later episodes too. This is the finest of the series, and there's little else which can be said.

The Horatio Hornblower series of TV movies is not the usual A & E culture vulture stuff. It's actually fun! Based on the novel about a dashing and ambitious young sailor in the Royal Navy in the 18th century, it's not exactly subtle, but it's great action-adventure genre stuff. Handsome Iaon Gruffud (Kate Winslet's rescuer in Titanic) stars as the too-gallant-to-be-true hero, continually getting into sticky situations. The script is witty, the characters real, and the period is shown convincingly. I guess it's kind of corny, but it's so much fun to watch you really won't care. I'm not really a costume drama person, but this one changed my mind. Catch it on A & E.

This movie, as well as the other three in the series, is "a refreshing drink of water in a drought stricken land." The hero of the story is the truest of men. A man who knows right from wrong and is willing to do anything to stand by the right. This particular movie has one up on the first two in that it has a touch of romance in it where the others are lacking. They all are characterized by plenty of mystery, adventure and very strong character development.My only complaint is that the movies all tend to leave out important points which left me sometimes wondering what was going on. This is hardly noticeable though when you lay this short-coming up against its list of strengths.A must see!