''Buccaneer'' is a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

series, made by the

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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'', dealing with a developing air freight business, starred

Bryan Marshall Bryan Marshall (19 May 1938 – 25 June 2019) was a British actor, with a number of major credits in film and television to his name, in both his native country and Australia. Early life Marshall was born in Battersea, south London. He was educ ...

, Mark Jones,

Pamela Salem Pamela Fortunee Salem (born 22 January 1944) is a British film and television actress of Anglo-Indian descent. She was born in Bombay, India, and educated at Heidelberg University in Germany and later at the Central School of Speech and Drama i ...

and

Clifford Rose John Clifford Rose (24 October 1929 – 6 November 2021) was a British actor. Life and career Rose was born in Herefordshire. He was educated at the King's School, Worcester, and King's College London, before appearing in repertory theatre, rep ...

, and was produced by

Gerard Glaister John Leslie Glaister DFC (21 December 1915 – 5 February 2005), known as Gerard or Gerrard Glaister, was a British television producer and director best known for his work with the BBC. Amongst his most notable successes as a producer were ''Co ...

John Brason John Brason is a British script writer and script editor, best known for the series made in collaboration with television producer Gerard Glaister, ''Colditz'' and '' Secret Army'', both set during World War II. Brason was known for his anti-com ...

, 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 Redcoat Air Cargo was a British cargo airline between 1976 and 1982 with headquarters at Horley in Sussex and an operating base at Luton Airport. History The company started operations in 1976 using a Bristol Britannia leased from Geminair. It ...

, 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 Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

'. ''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 the fact that the Bristol Britannia G-BRAC was destroyed in a crash near

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, 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. 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 ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's better-remembered World War II drama ''

Airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

'', starring

Roy Marsden Roy Marsden (born Roy Anthony Mould; 25 June 1941) is an English actor who portrayed Adam Dalgliesh in the Anglia Television dramatisations (1983–1998) of P. D. James's detective novels, and Neil Burnside in the spy drama ''The Sandbagg ...

, which was first broadcast in 1982.

Regular cast

- Tony Blair *

- Charles Burton *

- Monica Burton * Mark Jones - Ray Mason * Carolyn Courage - Kim Hayward *

Shirley Anne Field Shirley Anne Field (born Shirley Broomfield; 27 June 1938) is an English actress who has performed on stage, film and television since 1955, prominent during the British New Wave. Early life Broomfield was born in Forest Gate, Essex (now in t ...

- Janet Blair

Episodes

Notes

External links

* BBC television dramas 1980 British television series debuts 1980 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series Aviation television series English-language television shows {{BBC-tv-prog-stub