''The Mersey Pirate'' is a British children's television programme that was shown in 1979. Based aboard a

Mersey ferry The Mersey Ferry is a ferry service operating on the River Mersey in north west England, between Liverpool to the east and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula to the west. Ferries have been used on this route since at least the 12th ...

, the , anchored at

Liverpool Docks The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of the ...

in the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

, it was produced by

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

and was introduced to fill the Saturday morning summer break taken by ''

Tiswas ''Tiswas'' (; an acronym of "Today Is Saturday: Watch And Smile") was a British children's television series that originally aired on Saturday mornings from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982, and was produced for the ITV network by ATV. It was c ...

''. The programme's presenters were

Duggie Brown Duggie Brown (born Barry Douglas Dudley; 7 August 1940 – 16 August 2022) was an English comedian and actor. He was the younger brother of actress and singer Lynne Perrie. Stage work During the early 1960s, Brown was a guitarist/vocalist in ...

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, Bernard Wrigley and Billy Butler. Actors Andrew Schofield and Ray Kingsley, who would later work together on the television series '' Scully'', played stowaways. Various guests appeared on the series including

The Dooleys The Dooleys were a British male–female pop group comprising at its peak eight members – six of them in the Dooley family. The group achieved several UK chart hits between 1977 and 1981, including top-ten hits " Wanted", "Love of My Life" a ...

Bad Manners Bad Manners are an English two-tone and ska band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included ''Top of the Pops'' and the live film documentary, ''Dance Craze'' (1981). They were at their most popular during the early 1980 ...

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, and ''Star Wars'' star

David Prowse David Charles Prowse (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder and weightlifter. He portrayed Darth Vader (voiced by American actor James Earl Jones) in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy and a manservant in Stanle ...

(who was equally known in the UK for his persona as The Green Cross Code Man at the time). Most ITV regions showed the programme, though several (including Tyne Tees, UTV and Channel Television) did not. The show had been due to run throughout the summer of 1979, but its run was cut short due to the ITV network strike that ran from August to October that year. The show was prerecorded and used fake newspaper headlines to give the appearance of being live. The following year another Granada production, ''Fun Factory'', took the Summer Saturday morning slot.

External links

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''The Mersey Pirate''
on Paul Morris' SatKids {{DEFAULTSORT:Mersey Pirate, The 1979 British television series debuts 1979 British television series endings 1970s British children's television series English-language television shows Fictional people from Liverpool Fictional pirates ITV children's television shows Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television Television shows set in Liverpool