1996: NBC Brings All of Gulliver's Travels to TV
February 4, 2021
| By TV WW
On this day in 1996, NBC debut the first part of the two-part miniseries, Gulliver's Travels.
The miniseries was based on the classic Jonathan Swift novel, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships — although most know the book by its abbreviated name, Gulliver's Travels. Starring Ted Danson as lead character, Lemuel Gulliver, the miniseries was a more faithful adaptation of Swift's work in that it included all four parts of the original novel. (Most adaptations focus mainly on Part 1, "A Voyage to Lilliput.")
The miniseries — which earned five Emmy awards, including Best Miniseries — also starred Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, Omar Sharif, Warwick Davis, Kristin Scott Thomas, Alfre Woodard and Danson's real-life wife, Mary Steenburgen, as Gulliver's wife, Mary.