Set among the wilds of North America (New France) in late 17th century, 'Barkskins' is a gripping drama (from the people at National Geographic) that follows new settlers at a colony during a brutal and unforgiving time in human history.
As the Catholic Church sends Jesuit priests to convert the Indigenous people, France sends indentured servants to populate its territory along with Filles Du Roi (Daughters of the King), young women to be matched with husbands, start families and help the colonies prosper.Based on the 2016 bestselling novel of the same name by Annie Proulx (whose novel 'The Shipping News' won a Pulitzer Prize, while her short story 'Brokeback Mountain' was adapted into a Hollywood blockbuster), the eight-part series follows two 'barkskins' (indentured servants, transported from Paris slums to the wilds of New France in 1693) – René Sel (Christian Cooke) and Charles Duquet (James Bloor).
The series begins with René and Charles arriving in Wobik, a small settlement in what is now the Canadian province of Quebec.
However, a mysterious massacre of settlers in the vast and unforgiving wilds threatens to throw the region into all-out war. Likely suspects abound: the English, the Hudson's Bay Company and a band of Kanien'kehá:ka (Iroquois) Native Indians (possibly in league with the English) looking to drive the French from the territory.
Aneurin Barnard plays Hamish Goames, who's hired to track down a missing Hudson's Bay Company man who went missing after arriving in Wobik. Delphine (Lily Sullivan) and Melissande (Tallulah Haddon) are two Daughters of the King the series focuses on.
'Barkskins' is available to stream on demand via Foxtel's National Geographic channel.
