The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire.

Patrick Bergin
as Richard Burton

Iain Glen
as John Hanning Speke

Richard E. Grant
as Oliphant

Fiona Shaw
as Isabel

John Savident
as Lord Murchison

James Villiers
as Lord Oliphant

Adrian Rawlins
as Edward

Peter Vaughan
as Lord Houghton

Delroy Lindo
as Mabruki

Bernard Hill
as Dr. Livingstone