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26 Episodes 1961 - 1962
Episode 1
30 mins
Drake rescues survivors from a Spanish Galleon he has just sunk, including the haughty Spanish Countess Inez. Although Drake treats his prisoners with respect the scheming Princess is hell bent on revenge. She hatches a plan to sink the ship using its gunpowder store, but not before persuading Drake to send the captured children to his sister ship The Swan. However something goes wrong and she is forced to reveal her plan before it can be completed.
Episode 2
30 mins
Drake visits the ailing colonists with a view to rescuing them, but he has not counted on their determination in the face of attacks by the indigenous tribes.
Episode 3
Spymaster Francis Walsingham forges letters plotting against Queen Elizabeth to incriminate the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots. Suspicious of his motives, Elizabeth sends Drake undercover to investigate.
Episode 4
An astrologer by the name of Doctor Dee is adviser to Queen Elizabeth, but his advice on the stars is not good news for Drake, who wants to sail to Ostend to rescue English prisoners. The Spanish Ambassador to England had a hand in this fake bad news and Drake wants to set the record straight in order to complete his mission.
Episode 5
30 mins
Drake tries to persuade Queen Elizabeth to let him raid the Spanish held San Domingo which is not yet fully armed and is loaded with gold, however, the Queen refuses as there is an uneasy truce with Spain. Her cousin Lord Westbrook has already been sent by her to set up a trading post but has been imprisoned by the island's Spanish governor on false charges. Defying the Queen, Drake raids the island anyway and returns with a hoard of gold along with the rescued Westbrook, whose return saves him from the Queen's wrath.
Episode 6
30 mins
The queen sends Drake to Calais to rescue Lord Oakeshott, an English gentleman being held there on a charge of murder, but when Drake gets there he finds that Oakeshott is not a prisoner and appears to be a free man under the protection of a Countess. A lovesick young fool, Oakeshott is unwilling to leave.
Episode 7
30 mins
Queen Elizabeth sends her godson Master Harrington on a mission as an emissary to deliver a message to her Portuguese ambassador, but learns en route that Philip of Spain has invaded Portugal. She must get word to Drake before Harrington lands and is captured. The English Ambassador to Portugal is being held prisoner by the Spanish and Drake must get him and Harrington back to England.
Episode 8
30 mins
Drake takes provisions to Belgian garrison of Blankenberge where there are supposed to be 500 English soldiers ordered to keep the Spanish at bay. On arrival he finds that most of the men have died and their are only around 13 men left. While the men are dying of starvation their Spanish enemies are well fed and supplied, so Drake decides to destroy a bridged causeway that is being used to supply the Spanish. The remaining men are returned to England where the garrison commander Captain Williams is honoured by the queen.
Episode 9
King Philip II of Spain plans to marry his spoiled brat of a son Don Carlos to Princess Mariella of Naples and has invited dignitaries from across Europe, including the English ambassador Sir Thomas Wenham. Queen Elizabeth sends Drake as the ambassador's envoy, and when he catches Carlos bullying the Princess he violates protocol by grabbing the boy and insulting him, requiring an apology for his insolence towards the Spanish heir. Carlos wants Drake murdered and Drake needs to hatch a plan to save his life and the Princess from an unwanted and unhappy union.
Episode 10
An inventor demonstrates a flame-thrower, which he plans for peaceful purposes: clearing land of weeds so crops can be grown. But the Queen demands he turn it over to the military. The Spanish try to trick him into giving them the secret.
Episode 11
The Governor offers to supply Drake's ship with all the food they need, but the landing party must be unarmed, although Hawkins is sure it's a trap to capture Drake for the prior murder of the Governor's brother. The party land at the garrison, but later that evening Hawkins is drugged with spiked wine just after he has been shown a valuable necklace. The next morning he is accused of its theft and is sentenced to die by a court but Drake devises a plan to kidnap the Governor's future wife Isabel and trade her for Hawkins' return.
Episode 12
It's 1579 and after a long voyage Drake lands on the island of Tobago in the Americas in search of fresh water and food supplies. He is surprised to find there is a Spanish goldmine there using captured English sailors as slave labour, and hatches a plan to free his countrymen and destroy the mine.
Episode 13
30 mins
Drake's friend Tom Doughty proposes a plan to invest in what he thinks is a commercial mission to sail to Egypt to trade for spices, and Doughty and his fellow investors insist on sailing with Drake. However when Drake reveals his real plan is to sail round the Magellan Straits of South America into the Pacific to loot Spanish ships heavily laden with gold, Doughty and his co-investors try to bribe Drake's crew to mutiny and turn the ship around. However his his plan quickly disintegrates and he ends up being put on trial by Drake aboard ship for treason.
Episode 14
30 mins
Stukely, possibly an illegitimate son of Henry VIII, is given permission by the Queen to found a new country in the New World, with him as King. Encountering problems with both his settlers and the Spanish, Drake comes to his assistance.
Episode 15
Sent to Ireland to capture rebel Lord O'Neill, Drake must outwit the cunning of the rest of the Irish nobility.
Episode 16
The Queen promises a Spanish treasure ship safe passage through the English Channel, leaving Drake with the dilemma of how to capture the gold without breaking Elizabeth's word.
Episode 17
30 mins
Hugh Graveney, a Drake lookalike, uses a ship similar to the Golden Hind to seize loot from a surrendering Spanish ship then proceeds to slaughter all Spanish hands. What is thought to be the Golden Hind is eventually captured and when the Spanish realise who they have, the Spanish Ambassador uses him to turn the Dutch against England. Drake must convince the Queen that he took no part in the treachery he is accused of and sets out to catch the imposter.
Episode 18
30 mins
Spain invades England's oldest ally Portugal, and imprisons its most active leaders in Castle Ortega. Artist and soldier Pedro de Vazim escapes and makes his way to England where the Queen enlists the help of Drake to secure the release of the Portuguese resistance leader Gazio. Drake, Gazio and de Vazim's sister Maria devise a plan to cross a castle bridge to make good their escape as the Golden Hind destroys the castle's cannon defences.
Episode 19
30 mins
Sir Francis is helped by a young actor with literary ambitions, whose real name he takes some time to discover.
Episode 20
Queen Elizabeth is in love with the French Duke Alencon, and hopes to receive a marriage proposal. However since his return to France she has heard nothing further from him and suspects that his mother the French Queen Catherine de Medici has something to do with it. Elizabeth sends Drake to France to investigate. The French queen will stop at nothing to keep Drake from discovering the truth - that she has imprisoned her son in the Bastille to prevent any union with Elizabeth.
Episode 21
30 mins
The Spanish want to invade England overland but the small area of Ravenstein (in Holland) stands in their way. Elizabeth sends Drake to bring the Duchess back to England so the Spanish cannot use her to threaten her people.
Episode 22
30 mins
Drake rescues a boatload of gypsies, who, by their own account, were mercilessly abandoned in the sea by a ruthless Spanish ship's captain. However when Drake discovers the Spanish captain adrift in a boat he finds that the gypsies are not as innocent as they claim and must act before he and his crew suffer the same fate as the Spanish ship and her crew.
Episode 23
30 mins
A traitorous English goldsmith returning from Spain gives Queen Elizabeth false information regarding an imminent attack by the Spanish Armada. The plan is to keep Drake in England and prevent him seizing a Spanish ship laden with gold, but the attack is little more than a minor skirmish by a band of Spaniards hoping to spread fear across England. Drake decides to intervene and kill two birds with one stone.
Episode 24
30 mins
The Queen learns that one of her kinsman has been kidnapped by Barbary pirates, and orders Drake to the rescue.
Episode 25
30 mins
Drake intercepts a Spanish ship to find its cargo includes barrels of fresh water from an Indian well in Florida that the Spanish King believes will keep him healthy forever. Queen Elizabeth orders Drake to sail with Sir Henry Rainsford to Florida to investigate. There they form an alliance with the local tribal Princess to help free her father the Chief from the Spanish garrison.
Episode 26
30 mins
Drake is held prisoner by a sadistic Governor and after a failed escape attempt, ends up in front of a firing squad.