Starring Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Lindsay, Lorcan Crannitch, Ian McElhinney, Paul McGann
Peacetime finds Hornblower once more a lieutenant, in seedy lodgings with the sharp-tongued Mrs Mason and her daughter Maria, until Admiral Sir Edward Pellew makes him Commander of the Hotspur and sends him on a mission to France. There Hornblower uncovers a deadly secret that threatens England's freedom - but can he get the news back before it's too late? Or will Napoleon's agents prove his undoing?