Longitude

2000•2h 5m•7.0/10

Drama

Ratings

🎬TMDb

7.0/10(5)

The fascinating story of John Harrison who, in the 18th century, believed he could make a clock that would work on board a ship—and so solve the problem of finding longitude at sea.

Open in PickFlick

Production

Granada Television, A+E Global Media

Language

Status

Ended

First Aired

January 2, 2000

Last Aired

January 3, 2000

Networks

Channel 4

Created By

Charles Sturridge

Where to Watch

Region US · Lang EN

No providers available for this region.

Available in Your Library

Seasons & Episodes

Select a season to view episodes. Reddit links may contain spoilers.

Season

Part 1

Air date: 2000-01-02

When the British Parliament creates an award of £20,000 to whoever can come up with a solution for determining longitude at sea, a carpenter-turned-clockmaker, John Harrison, begins his experiments to build an accurate timepiece unaffected by sea travel. His main obstacles are lack of money, a judgment Board convinced that the answer lies in astronomy and not clocks, and the mechanics of the clock itself.

Part 2

Air date: 2000-01-03

Rallying after sickness to prove the integrity of their marvelous seafaring chronometers, the Harrisons still had to fight for official recognition, and Gould's restoration of the Harrison clockworks provides a fitting coda to this exceptional story about the thrill of discovery and the tenacity of remarkable men.