buchetger Staying with my in-laws in rural Ireland,kids,wife and said in-laws watching ER or whatever,I had to stay in the kitchen to watch on a small portable TV this film I thought would be interesting.(Dirty dishes,dogs etc...). I was taken aback quite from the start. The actors (Gambon,Irons..)were terrific,but more so,believable.After 30mns I forced my dad-in-law to at least have a look at the show,which he did.We didn't leave that kitchen for the 3 nights the series was on and merrily sorted out the after-dinner mess,all the while conversing on how to build IT.Anecdote: on the last night my eldest aughter who was 7 came into the kitchen to see what we were watching,and at that age, was captivated. It is also a great tribute to the ethics of learning and wanting,working to achieve something. Sorry if I sounded a bit Victorian in that sense.(Am not). Please watch and recommend this.

AirWolf1984 I ran into this at late night on A&E a couple of years ago. Although I missed about 30 minutes of the beginning part, I immediately got 'glued' to TV by the casts' great performance, great story line, and its historical-correct setting.As a side note, Sir Isaac Newton (1642--1727) was in the same era as in the time setting of the story. I wonder if Sir Isaac Newton had ever involved with this 'board of longitude' ;)

gwat I thought this film was over-long, in particular the Gould/Irons story was boring and irrelevant, and the piece would have benefited by cutting this bit out altogether.Being a firm believer that truth is stranger and more interesting than fiction I was also disappointed by the sensationalising of events. This sort of dumbing-down of history is a real insult to viewers. The plot took the easy option at every point - the "Board" are villains from start to finish, Harrison not only proves his clock works but saves the bacon of the of ship or fleet at every turn, the proponents of the rival astronomical systems are all bungling fools. All nice cosy escapism I suppose. However, the acting was fine and the production values superb.

chip98 Long, but worth it! A blessed antidote to MTV's Tom Green and the rest of the scumbag-chic that passes for culture these days. Based on the brilliant history of the same name by Dava Sobel.In the days when ships measured themselves by yardage of sail and bank of cannon, knowing your north-south latitude was easy. Finding your east-west longitude however (and keeping your ship off the reefs) was hit-and-miss. That could get you killed. The cure was to know the time in London, precisely, but keeping time accurate on a rolling ship was tougher than keeping milk fresh; pendulum clocks need stable ground, and pendulum clocks were all they had.Queen Anne (Br., 1665-1714) had another idea: a 20,000 pound-sterling prize to anyone who had a solution. Problem was, no one expected a country carpenter cum-clockmaker to do it. John Harrison (Michael Gambon) was that carpenter, and it became *his* problem--a three-decades-long problem. It would also pose one for Rupert Gould (Jeremy Irons) two centuries later, as a marriage-busting, sanity-breaking obsession over restoring Harrison's neglected prototypes: clocks that could keep time at sea better than the quartz-timed digital you might be wearing now."Longitude" weaves seamlessly--almost--between the two eras, tracking the exertions and miseries of John Harrison and Rupert Gould with the same kind of synchronicity Harrison spent half his life pitching to astronomers who had scarce respect for the tinkerings of a hayseed. Michael Gambon's passionate performance as John Harrison is truly Oscar-calibre, eclipsing Irons--but only because the tunnel-visioned Rupert Gould is hardly a vehicle for the memorable. Too bad this was "only" a TV mini-series. As a theatrical release it would have lent due reknown to a scarce-remembered true epic of genius.Watch this when you get the chance. Then go punch Tom Green in the nose.