IN REVIEW: AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS EPISODE SIX

Synopsis: This week on Around the World in 80 Days. Our trio of travellers are now Pacific castaways. Passepartout attempts to atone for his treachery, Abigail is apologetic, but Phileas remains stubborn as revelations and regrets drive wedges between them.

The Story

Picking up from where last week left off. Thomas Kneedling has marooned Fogg and his friends on an island. As the three travellers struggle to survive Passepartout reveals that he’d worked with Kneedling to undermine Fogg. Upon hearing this Fogg banishes Passpetout from his company, which sees the French Valet trying to atone for his actions. But when Passpetout takes ill Fogg and Abigail are forced to reconsider their actions and the group begins anew as all three of them share their unique stories with each other until help arrives.

Meanwhile, back in London Bellemy is asked to speak at a memorial to Phileas Fogg.

The Acting

This was a brilliant episode for the main actors as it allowed them all to truly dive deep into their respective characters. David Tennant is brilliant as Fogg and gets a lot of brilliant scenes, but a standout one is when he talks about his friendship with Bellemy. And tells Abigail and Passepartout of a similar trip he’d planned to take with his lost love Estella.

Ibrahim Koma also puts in a great performance as Passepartout confesses to having worked with Kneedling to undermine Fogg’s adventures. He also has a great scene with Abigail (Leonie Benesch) where they share what their first impressions of each other were. This leads up to a scene where Abigail’s romantic interest is finally revealed.

Overall

Perhaps one of the strongest episodes thus far when it comes to exploring the characters and peeling back a few of the layers. I really enjoyed Tennant’s performance in this, but still feel that Passepartout is by far the most interesting character. Indeed, Passepartout gets one of the funniest lines when sampling some of the island’s fruit, which is nasty. He protests, “I can’t eat this. I’m French.”

Around the World in 80 Days continues next week on BBC1 and is now available to view in its entirety on iPlayer.