1x1 - Let the Experiment Be Made

November 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).

1x2 - The Making of a Revolutionary

November 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.

1x3 - The Chess Master

November 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.

Colm Feore

narrator

Richard Easton

Benjamin Franklin

Dylan Baker

Benjamin Franklin

David Adkins

John Jay

Gerry Bamman

Paul Wentworth

Blair Brown

Jane Mecom

Anthony Cochrane

George

Peter Donaldson

John Adams

Ronald Guttman

Le Comte de Vergennes

Anthony Heald

Jonathan Austin

Jefferson Mays

Elkanah Watson

Brian Murray

Viscount Stormont

Martin Rayner

Robert Whittington

Natacha Roi

Mme. Britton de Jouy

Sebastian Roché

French Aristocrat