Buccaneer (TV series)

Buccaneer is a television series, made by the BBC from 1979 to 1980. Created by experienced television writer N. J. (Norman) Crisp, it was broadcast over 13 weeks from April to July 1980.

Buccaneer
Genre	Adventure
Created by	N.J. Crisp Eric Paice
Starring	Bryan Marshall Mark Jones Clifford Rose Pamela Salem Carolyn Courage Shirley Anne Field
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer	Gerard Glaister
Running time	50 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	27 April (1980-04-27) – 20 July 1980 (1980-07-20)

Buccaneer, dealing with a developing air freight business, starred Bryan Marshall, Mark Jones, Pamela Salem and Clifford Rose, and was produced by Gerard Glaister. John Brason, who had previously worked with Glaister on Secret Army, served as script editor.

The aircraft that 'starred' in the series was a Bristol Britannia of Redcoat Air Cargo, registration G-BRAC, which wore the markings of 'Redair', the name of the fictional airline in the series.

The first episode of Buccaneer concerned getting out of the fictional country of Ximbali; this just presaged real-life events when people fled from the former Rhodesia which had been renamed to the similar-sounding Zimbabwe. Amusingly, in view of later political developments, the lead character in Buccaneer, played by Bryan Marshall was named 'Tony Blair'. Buccaneer was also the first BBC drama series to be broadcast with Ceefax subtitles for the hearing impaired.

One reason for there being only one series (13 episodes) of Buccaneer was that the Bristol Britannia G-BRAC was destroyed in a crash near Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 February 1980, shortly after the completion of filming, but just before transmission of the series. Of the eight people on board, seven were killed, and only one survived, albeit seriously injured.^[1]

With the 'starring aircraft' destroyed in a crash, plans for a second series were abandoned. Buccaneer has not been released on video or DVD. It became overshadowed by ITV's better-remembered post-Second World War drama Airline, starring Roy Marsden, which was first broadcast in 1982.

Regular cast

• Bryan Marshall - Tony Blair
• Clifford Rose - Charles Burton
• Pamela Salem - Monica Burton
• Mark Jones - Ray Mason
• Carolyn Courage - Kim Hayward
• Shirley Anne Field - Janet Blair

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Designed by	Original release date
1	"Reluctant Hero"	Ken Grieve	J. B. Flack	Myles Lang	27 April 1980 (1980-04-27)
2	"Albatross"	Marc Miller	J. B. Flack	Stanley Morris	4 May 1980 (1980-05-04)
3	"Grounded"	Andrew Morgan	N. J. Crisp	Myles Lang	11 May 1980 (1980-05-11)
4	"A Kind of Cuckoo"	Ken Grieve	N. J. Crisp	Stanley Morris	18 May 1980 (1980-05-18)
5	"Let's Make a Killing"	Marc Miller	John Brason	Myles Lang	25 May 1980 (1980-05-25)
6	"The Thin End"	Andrew Morgan	John Brason	Stanley Morris	1 June 1980 (1980-06-01)
7	"Somebody's Telling Lies"	Tristan de Vere Cole	David Crane	Mary Spencer	8 June 1980 (1980-06-08)
8	"Private Arrangements"	Marc Miller	David Crane	Stanley Morris	15 June 1980 (1980-06-15)
9	"Intruders"	Andrew Morgan	Ben Steed	Myles Lang	22 June 1980 (1980-06-22)
10	"Feet of Clay"	Tristan de Vere Cole	Ben Steed	Stanley Morris	29 June 1980 (1980-06-29)
11	"Eldorado"	Marc Miller	N. J. Crisp	Myles Lang	6 July 1980 (1980-07-06)
12	"A No Go Item"	Andrew Morgan	N. J. Crisp	Stanley Morris	13 July 1980 (1980-07-13)
13	"Emergency"	Tristan de Vere Cole	N. J. Crisp	Mary Spencer	20 July 1980 (1980-07-20)