Crusoe TV Show Facts

Oct 15, 2008

Based on the three-hundred year old adventure novel Robinson Crusoe, Crusoe is the tale of a castaway who finds himself far from home and having to survive on a remote island in the Pacific. NBC revives this classic tale as a dramatic TV show!

Characters

Robinson Crusoe - The hero of the series, Robinson is a mariner (sailor) who heads to the high seas despite his parents’ wishes, leading to the fateful adventure that strands him on an island for several years.
Friday - A liberated slave (remember, this is the 1700s) who Robinson helps escape from a pack of cannibals on the island, with plans of employing him as a servant (1700s!). They soon become friends.
Susannah Crusoe - Robinson’s wife and true love, who is left behind in England to deal with life without him after he is cast away. The thought of getting back to her keeps Robinson sane on the island.
Santana - Captain of the Spanish guard, he befriends Robinson on one of his adventures.

Fun Facts

The original book by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719, is thought to be the first English language novel.
The book’s full title is The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (of York, Mariner Who lived Eight and Twenty Years all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where in all the Men perished by Himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pirates). Whew!
Robinson’s father is played by Sean Bean, who played Boromir in Lord of the Rings.
Crusoe is being filmed in England, the US, Canada and South Africa, among other places.
The two-hour series premiere of Crusoe airs on NBC on October 17, 2008.