William Golding's classic sea trilogy, charting a young aristocrat's rite of passage, comes to life in a spectacular adaptation. / It's 1812 and Edmund Talbot (Benedict Cumberbatch) is travelling on board a decrepit wooden warship. He is on his way to Australia to take up a Government post secured for him by his rich and influential godfather. / The bulk of the story is set on board the ship on the high seas towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars. It is a diverse, complex and haunting trilogy of William Golding's novels, Rites of Passage, Close Quarters and Fire Down Below. (Source: BBC)