The Onedin Line
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The Onedin Line was a popular BBC television drama series that ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham, a native of Liverpool, where the story was set. The opening credits of the series featured music from the ballet Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian. The programme was recorded in Dartmouth, Devon, as well as certain scenes in Exeter , Falmouth and Bristol (many of the dock scenes).
James Onedin, the younger son of old Samuel Onedin, a miserly ship chandler, was a penniless sea captain with aspirations to greater things. He married Anne, who was some years his senior and the spinster daughter of Captain Joshua Webster, owner of the topsail schooner Charlotte Rhodes. James's only motivation was to get his hands on the ship. A shrewd and often ruthless operator, James soon built up a fleet, assisted by the loyal Mr (later Captain) Baines. His other sailing ships included the Pampero, the Medusa and the Soren Larsen. He also initiated the building of a steamship, the Anne Onedin.
James's volatile sister, Elizabeth, became pregnant by seafarer Daniel Fogarty but married wealthy Albert Frazer, developer of steamship technology and heir to the Frazer shipyards, a connection James soon turned to his own advantage. Elizabeth gave birth to a son, William, who later died as a young man in a street accident.
Robert, James's older brother, took after their father and counted coppers in the family shop, though he later expanded it into a profitable department store, urged on by his thrifty and socially ambitious wife, Sarah. They had one son, Samuel, who cared more for the sea and ships than shopkeeping. Robert was elected as a Member of Parliament and he and Sarah moved to a smart new residence, but Robert's life abruptly came to an end when he choked on a bone at a family dinner. His widow Sarah made attempts to contact him through a medium, then almost married a fortune-hunting captain. She was last heard of as having undertaken a tour of the world.
At the end of the second series, Anne, whom James had come to love, died giving birth to a daughter, Charlotte. James considered two possible replacement brides for a while, wealthy widow Caroline Maudslay and the young heiress Leonora Biddulph, before settling for his daughter's governess, Letty Gaunt. In due course Letty also died, of diphtheria, and by the last series James was married to a third wife, the exotic Margarita Juarez, and was by then a grandfather.
The eighth and final series ended with news of the death at sea of Daniel Fogarty, whom Elizabeth had finally married after the death of her first husband Albert, and also with the birth, at last, of a son and heir for James. Born aboard ship, the child was named Will after Captain Baines.
The series made the careers of Peter Gilmore, who played James, and Anne Stallybrass, who played Anne, as well as being an important break for Jill Gascoine (Letty), Warren Clarke (Josiah Beaumont), Kate Nelligan (Leonora Biddulph) and Jane Seymour (Emma Callon). Other cast members included Jessica Benton (Elizabeth Frazer), Brian Rawlinson (Robert Onedin), Mary Webster (Sarah Onedin), Michael Billington / Tom Adams (Daniel Fogarty), Philip Bond (Albert Frazer), Edward Chapman (George Callon), James Warwick (Edmund Callon), John Phillips (Jack Frazer), Caroline Harris (Caroline Maudslay), James Hayter (Captain Joshua Webster), Ken Hutchison (Matt Harvey), Howard Lang (Captain Baines), Laura Hartong (Charlotte Onedin), Marc Harrison (William Frazer), Christopher Douglas (Samuel Onedin), Roberta Iger (Margarita Onedin), Jenny Twigge (Caroline Onedin), Cyril Shaps (Braganza), Hilda Braid (Miss Simmonds), David Garfield (Samuel Plimsoll), Robert James (Rowland Biddulph), Sylvia Coleridge (Mrs Salt), Sonia Dresdel (Lady Lazenby), Nicolette Roeg (Ada Gamble), John Rapley (Dunwoody), Stephanie Bidmead (Mrs Darling), John Sharp (Uncle Percy Spendilow), Heather Canning (Mrs Arkwright), Keith Jayne (Tom Arnold), Frederick Jaeger (Max van der Rheede), Edward Judd (Manuel Ortega), Elizabeth Chambers (Miss Gladstone) and Jack Watson (Dr Darling).
There are six novels based on the series. The first five, The Shipmaster (1972), The Iron Ships (1974), The High Seas (1975), The Trade Winds (1977) and The White Ships (1979) are all by the creator of the series, Cyril Abraham, who died in 1979. The sixth, The Turning Tide (1980), was written by Bruce Stewart.
A series of Onedin short stories by Cyril Abraham, set between Series Two and Series Three, appeared in Woman magazine in 1973. A further tale by Abraham, For Love of the Onedins, appeared later in a short-lived magazine called tvlife. This story, covering Leonora Biddulph's wedding, occurs between Series Three and Series Four and also features Matt Harvey, who was Elizabeth's love interest during the fourth series.
Cyril Abraham also wrote another excellent seafaring novel, The Blazing Ocean, set during the Second World War, which is well worth reading. It is not, however, an Onedin Line book.
External Links There were 91 episodes broadcast from October 1971 to October 1980 see this link for a complete list and more details: [1]
