I read books about Sinbad the Sailor as a kid, I assume the TV programme is at least loosely based upon those stories.
Anyway, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from the series, I’d seen the series advertised as starting soon on Sky 1 and it looked like it might be interesting. I had no expectations as I don’t even remember the Sinbad the Sailor books I read as a child.
Something that shocked me from not very far into the programme, was that it was based largely around elements of the supernatural. I was not expecting a sci-fi programme, but as sci-fi is my favourite genre, it was a pleasant surprise.
Something noticeable I must compliment this programme on, is the fact that, unlike some other programmes which are very slow to get going (i.e. it’s the 2nd or 3rd episode before it really gets into the storyline), this programme was very quick to get into it and it did keep me glued to the screen throughout.
Surprisingly, the cast are relatively unknown, with the exception of Naveen Andrews (who was Sayid in Lost) who plays Lord Akbari, though he didn’t play a large part in it overall. A few familiar faces throughout the season included Paul Barber (who I remember most as Denzil in “Only Fools and Horses”, but is maybe more noteably known for his role as Horse in the film “The Full Monty”), Matthew Horne (maybe most noteable for being Gavin from “Gavin & Stacey”) and Timothy Spall (who I think is most memorable for his role as Barry in “Auf Wiedersehen, Pet”).
Apparently, from a quick look on Google, Elliot Knight (who plays the lead role as Sinbad), has been in teen soap, “Hollyoaks” and was apparently not well rated for this role. Now, I went into watching this programme open-minded as I haven’t watched Hollyoaks since I was about 17/18 in the good old days of Jambo (Will Mellor) and Kurt (Jeremy Edwards)… Unsurprisingly, it’s the male characters I remember 
… So I had not heard of Elliot Knight prior to this series! I would say, he seems to play the role really well and seems like a good actor.
In fact the rest of the cast was equally as unknown (to me anyway!), but I think they worked well together and as the season progressed, you began to notice a rapport between then and they all seem to work off each others acting abilities brilliantly.
We start off by learning (nice and quickly) about who Sinbad is… A common thief… And about his brother, Jamil and his closeness to him. We see Sinbad getting into an illegal fight with the Emir’s (played by Igal Naor) brother’s son who dies. Lord Akbari (the Emir’s brother) seeks revenge on the person who took his sons life and sends his guards to find Sinbad and Jamil.
Once they are captured, Lord Akbari makes Sinbad watch as he takes the life of his brother, Jamil, as retribution for the death of his son. A friend of Sinbad, one of the guards, helps Sinbad to escape and flee from the city. Lord Akbari isn’t at all happy as he feels taking the life of Sinbad too would be the only solice he could find for the death of his son and so enlists the help of Taryn (played by Orla Brady) , a powerful mage, to help find Sinbad using her black magik.
Sinbad escapes on a ship and there he meets his fellow travellers and shipmates – Anwar (Dimitri Leonidas), Rina (Marama Corlett), Gunnar (Elliot Cowan) and Nala (Estella Daniels). Later into the series, Nala leaves the ship to stay in Basra and help the re-building of the city following the destruction caused by Lord Akbari and Taryn and they come across a new shipmate, Tiger (Tuppence Middleton).
The crew come across many obstacles and have many adventures. On their first voyage, before they all know who each other is, the ship is attacked by a sea monster who kills off lots of the people on the ship and leaves behind Sinbad and is soon to be crew. It’s all very mysterious and we’re left to wonder what it was and where it came from.
A most noteable episode (E4 – ‘Old Man of the Sea’) is where they find a mysterious old man aboard a deserted ship (which disappears) who is very ill – a man named Anicetus (Timothy Spall), but all is not as it seems… He has a really negative effect on the crew and makes them ill and hallucinate. He tries to deceive Nala into marrying him tricking her into believing that is how she can see her father again.
An episode (E11 – ‘Fiend or Friend?’) that stands out in my mind that I really liked was the one whereby they stop off on an island to seek directions to the Land of the Dead. The island is seemingly run by a group of monks. Gunnar falls for a widow and helps her and her son and even contemplates staying with them. The head monk, Father La Stessa (Dougray Scott) is jealous as he has a thing for her too and frames Gunnar as the ‘beast’ which terrorises the island and the people on it. Sinbad and the rest of the crew set out to prove his innocence. The beast actually turns out to be the rather eccentric monk, Philippe (Matthew Horne).
The finale of the season (E12 – ‘Land of the Dead’) sees Taryn having merged herself with Tiger in order to travel and gain access to the Land of the Dead with Sinbad and the others. It is revealed that she wanted to travel there to bring back her daughter, Alehna (Evanna Lynch) who died as a child. It is also revealed that Sinbad is the only one who can gain access to the Land of the Dead as he is both alive and dead. Sinbad gets to see Jamil again, and Jamil gets to meet Sinbad’s friends. The Land of the Dead is inhabited by a Guardian. The Guardian captures Sinbad and traps his consciousness in a state of limbo where his friends do not know him as they have never met. His friends manage to free him, but the Guardian keeps chasing them. Taryn finds Alehna and takes her from the Land of the Dead. They find an escape route, but the Guardian catches up to them and Jamil sacrifices himself to the guardian so that Sinbad and the others may leave. As Sinbad says a final farewell to Jamil, it is revealed that there is some sort of dark force surrounding Alehna…
