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The Onedin Line

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Drama Playhouse - The Onedin Line

The wind blows free for any man’s use. A hundred years ago all a man needed to make a start - and ultimately a fortune - was a ship, the courage to risk his life in her and the cunning to survive in a cut-throat business.

James Onedin found his ship and one other hazard - a woman to match him.

Series 1

James Onedin is anxious to purchase the schooner, Charlotte Rhodes. Her owner refuses James’ offer. However, the Captain has a daughter.
 

Anne Onedin learns about sea fever - and navigation.
 

After a perilous return voyage, James Onedin finds more problems ashore. With little ready cash he is scarcely a match for ship-owner Callon’s vengeance.
 

James Onedin slowly struggles to build up his fleet of sailing ships. First he needs a warehouse - but as always the price is high.
 

James sails home to yet more money problems. Elizabeth cannot decide whether to marry Frazer or Fogarty.
 

The Charlotte Rhodes, badly damaged by violent storms, is foundering. Callon makes it a race for salvage.
 

Despite a disaster in the vineyards, James, in Lisbon, still manages to bargain for his square rigger. White sails billow against the blue sky, as the Pampero sails towards South America.
 

When James sails home to Liverpool with his new clipper, Anne is not on the quayside to greet him. The reason for her absence is a certain Michael Adams …

 

When My Ship Comes Home

By David Weir

A ship James has chartered from Callon is lost at sea. Callon sees his chance to bankrupt the Onedin Line and takes it.

 

A Very Important Passenger

By Roy Russell

James is approached to carry a secret passenger to Italy, little knowing that Callon has arranged it, knowing the dangers involved.
 

The crew of a chartered ship has mutinied at Brest. Unless James can make them agree to sail on to London, the fruit cargo will perish and he will face financial disaster.
 

Cry of the Blackbird

By Bruce Stewart

A dramatic voyage to Australia ends in near-disaster when James’s promised cargo doesn’t materialise. Then a stranger, McPherson, makes an unusual proposition.
 

Is Elizabeth’s baby a bastard? Albert suddenly comes face to face with a new possibility, while James sets forth on a troubled voyage to Quebec.
 

Blockade

By Allan Prior

James is lured by the prospect of high profits into attempting to run the Unionist blockade to the beleaguered Southern states of America, during the Civil War.
 

Lured by the profitable prospects of steam ships James sets up a Public Company but Callon is an old hand at financial juggling and meanwhile the Pampero, James’s only clipper, is sailing through troubled waters.
 

Series 2
 

James Onedin is in need of quick profits to regain control of the Onedin Line which Callon has wrested from him. But when James sails for the West Indies he has a troublemaker aboard …
 

Discontent is rapidly mounting aboard James’s clipper The Star of Bethelehem. Led by sailmaker Jessop, the crew plan a seamen’s strike on their return to Liverpool.

Anne is increasingly torn between loyalty to her husband and her principles.
 

Anne has left James and is determined not to return. But James has warned her that she’ll not survive as a woman alone …
 

What is the mystery surrounding the voyage of the Samantha?
 

James and Albert are responsible for bringing yellow fever into Liverpool. They are shocked to learn that the enquiry into the outbreak will be headed by Albert’s father …
 

Sailing from Foochow in his chartered clipper Osiris, James picks up the lone survivor of a wrecked ship. The survivor has a strange story to tell …
 

James has an uneasy feeling about the Pibroch and her curious cargo. But he discovers the secret of the vessel’s voyage too late. For James is aboard her - and in grave danger.
 

Captain Baines is deemed responsible for the loss of his ship and has to face a board of Nautical Assessors, while James plans to sail around the Horn, the last testing voyage left to a sailor.
 

James and Albert Frazer sail to Turkey to inspect a steam engine well in advance of its time.
 

James discovers a derelict schooner and decides to take her in tow. Mr Baines considers the schooner is hardly worth the trouble, but James is intrigued by the mystery of the abandoned vessel.
 

Elizabeth finds that Albert has visited Carrie Harris again and she decides to leave him. Albert, furious with his wife, threatens to sue for divorce and to make public Elizabeth’s unchastity.
 

Paris is in the hands of Citizen Communards who are fighting a civil war with the rest of France. Nevertheless, James insists on going to Paris to collect an old debt.
 

A tea merchant is to sell his Onedin Line shares to the highest bidder. If Fogarty can buy them he will gain control of the company.
 

James has challenged Daniel Fogarty to a race from Foochow to Liverpool. The winner will gain control of the Onedin Steamship Company. But with Anne’s news, James has another reason for a fast passage.

Series 3
 

It is six months since the death of Anne Onedin. How is James coping with the loss of the woman who had become so dear to him? Young Leonora Biddulph is soon to learn …

Tonight: when ship devils cause a ship to sink, James comes into conflict with Samuel Plimsoll, the sailors’ friend.
 

James sights a dugout canoe in the fresh water outlet of the Amazon. Inside the canoe is the exhausted and sun-blistered figure of a woman …
 

James sails into Liverpool to find two mysteries awaiting him: the disappearance of the steamship Anne Onedin, and a strange request from Señor Braganza.
 

Difficulties and danger await Captain Fogarty when he attempts to take a cargo of coal up the Amazon. Having James Onedin as a competitor doesn’t help, either …
 

James comes into open conflict with Samuel Plimsoll, who is campaigning for a safe load-line to be painted on all vessels. The result is a hazardous voyage for both men.
 

James is to fetch a caro of rubber seeds from Brazil for the development of plantations in India. The Brazilian Government, however, guard their rubber seeds rather zealously. But Caroline has a plan …
 

Captain Baines is a confirmed bachelor. Until he meets Mrs Darling and finds himself in a peculiar and rather sinister dilemma …
 

In a race against time, James takes two ships to the Baltic for cargoes of pit wood. When one of the ships is caught in the ice, James challenges Captain Fogarty: how will he choose to die - by fire or by ice?
 

A remarkably debonair James imports some surprising news to his sister, Elizabeth. He is to make a proposal of marriage.
 

Captain Baines is frustrated to learn that James is tiring of the sea and is thinking of selling his ships. But Baines’s troubles really begin when James asks him to navigate a West African river …
 

James and Captain Fogarty race their ships to Boston, the winner to secure a tea contract. Why are both men so convinced that they will win?
 

When a ship strikes an iceberg, Captain Baines is not picked up with the survivors. James, determined that Baines is still alive, sets himself the seemingly impossible task of finding him …
 

Leonora Biddulph or Caroline Maudsley? The time has come for James to make his decision.
 

Series 4
 

“She went up in seconds, sir. There was nothing we picked up that wasn’t burnt or charred …”
 

“Get yourself another steamboat Onedin, and don’t waste my time!”
 

“Why did he go to the Argentine … if all he could leave behind was this?”
 

“Is only a man’s word as good as his bond?”
 

“Her Majesty’s Marines have orders to fire upon any man attempting to leave this vessel.”
 

“It’s a foolish man that tells the world he’s found a goldmine.”
 

“The penalties for attempting to influence one of Her Majesty’s Justices are severe. Severe, indeed, sir.”
 

“It’ll take us at least three hours to get there. And with this wind turning into a gale … You’ll be there in time to pick up the pieces.”
 

“If it fails … You will become a shipowner as well as a banker.”
 

“You’ve never had a relationship with any man or woman that wasn’t based on money!”
 

Series 5

“All your high and mighty ideas, James! Building ports in South America. Spending hundreds of thousands. Where’s it got you? Answer me that!”
 

“Everything you told me is untrue. The place is swarming with cut-throats. We’re in the middle of a damned war!”
 

“That sea out there’s becoming a graveyard. That’s the second ship this month.”
 

“You paid for them to be scuppered. Good men lost their lives. Men I might have sailed with. Old mates with wives and children left behind.
 

“There are two cannons trained on this ship, Captain Baines, so I wouldn’t advise you to leave, so you won’t have to go ashore to find out if you’re welcome!”
 

“Don’t light that down here unless you have to, man! Sometimes the chaff from this stuff explodes!”
 

“These poor emigrants. They’re treated like cattle. And everyone exploits them.”
 

“You have until noon to find £10,000. Captain Baines and your crew will then be returned unharmed. Otherwise they’ll be shot - one by one!”
 

“I certainly have no intention of being a pale reflection of Anne. She’s been watching over me ever since I set foot in this house.”
 

“Ships are changing hands all the time. This one has new owners - and I doubt she’s been re-registered yet. Ideal for the purpose.”
 

Series 6
 

“And when it comes to thieving I don’t need any fo’c’sle lawyer to tell me what I can and can’t do. is that clear?”
 

“Oh I shall obtain evidence young man, never you fear. And when I do you’re going to rue the day that you were born!”
 

“Aye, why not talk to him, William? Point out your little difficulty. For be assured boy, I have you by the throat!”
 

“That’s right, mister - don’t you take your eyes off me - ‘cos if you do, I’ll wring your neck like a chicken!”
 

“… I’ll go out and come back in again … Hello Letty, carpet cost me a fortune, but I’ll not mention it.”
 

“I can ruin you. Fair means or foul … I’m a rich man, Norman. I could afford to make it my business to do so.”
 

“I’m not cut out to be a father. You should have realised that by now.”
 

“Biggest rogue in the West Indies … but he wasn’t always like that.”
 

“We’re beginning to take in water. Three inches in the last half hour.”
 

“I’ve deserved a lot of things, Will. Wish I’d made my peace with Letty though.”

Series 7
 

“You’re locking them up like criminals - animals. You’re both acting out of blind fear.”
 

“Reckon there’s only one thing that spoils the look of her. You’ve got a notice nailed to your mast. Your ship’s been impounded.”
 

“That lot you got ain’t sailors. They’re dross - scum of the earth. They just want to get to America and no questions asked.”
 

“Look, Elizabeth, I’ve raced half across the world to stop you. It’s damned important!”
 

“How d’you suppose I feel with blood on my hands? It was him or us!”
 

“Perhaps you missed what Our Lord has to say about fallen women …?”
 

“No wonder I don’t feel well. My daughter’s run off with my partner and my sister steals all my contracts!”
 

“Trouble is, that man will be dead afore we reach Madeira. Your decision, sir.”
 

“If there’s anyone going to be thrown overboard, it’s you. You’re out numbered, out-manoeuvred and undergunned.”
 

“It’s Onedin! Well, he’ll not take us without a fight. Best arm yourselves, lads.”

Series 8

“I won’t have my ship blown out of the water just so you can thumb your nose at the Tsar!”
 

“In a short time, you will either be released, or shot. In great hope for the former, I leave you.”
 

“If we don’t put that cannon out of the water, they’ll blow Cap’n Onedin out of the water!”
 

“I loved you so much and I wanted you to be mine. What that so very wrong of me?”
 

“Stay in the harbour and look o’er the foam. Because Friday’s the day the Devil doth own.”
 

“All to do with loyalty. You’ll learn obedience, boy. And you’ll stay at it ‘till you do!”
 

“I’m no fool, Dakers. I fully understand the weight of evidence against me.”
 

“Pendleton will give us the evidence we need - because if he doesn’t we’ll simply throw him back in the sea.”
 

“He’s put everything he’s got into this venture. Only natural he’s worried. And maybe old memories have come back to haunt him.”

© Radio Times

The Onedin Line

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