In November
1996, to celebrate BBC TV's sixtieth birthday, the Radio Times included a large
feature on popular programmes from the previous sixty years, one of which was
The Onedin Line.
© Radio Times
2 - 8 November 1996
Anne and Jessica Benton, who played
James’ sister Elizabeth, became best friends during recording of the series
and Anne is godmother to Jessica’s daughter, Ella. The Gilmores are still
close to Jessica and her family.
The text on the photo says:
THE ONEDIN LINE
Main picture from left: Jessica Benton, Peter Gilmore, Anne
Stallybrass
Television's most fabulous set of whiskers adorned the dour James
Onedin (Peter Gilmore), the 19th-century shipowner whose love life was more
tumultuous than the seas he sailed. The most stirring thing about it was the
music, from Khachaturian's Spartacus, featured in that opening shot
of a sailing vessel in full sail. Then viewers would be pitched on a sea of
soap and as James grappled with his business and the schemes of his sister
Elizabeth's (Jessica Benton) husband Albert Fraser, who ran a rival shipping
company. James had little luck with women - his first wife Anne (played by
Peter Gilmore's real-life wife Anne Stallybrass) died in childbirth while
Letty, his second wife, also died (but childless).
The Onedin Line
-
Copyright DiMar
|