Buccaneer (TV series)

Buccaneer is a short-lived television series, made by the BBC in 1979–80. Created by experienced television writer N. J. (Norman) Crisp, it was broadcast over 13 weeks in April–July 1980.

The series, 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.

One reason for there being only one series (13 episodes) of this drama was that the fact that Bristol Britannia G-BRAC was destroyed in a crash near Boston, Mass., 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. The series has not been repeated or released on video or DVD. It became overshadowed by ITV's better-remembered World War 2 drama "Airline" starring Roy Marsden which was first broadcast in 1982.

The first episode 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 the Buccaneer TV series, played by Bryan Marshall was named "Tony Blair".

Buccaneer was the first BBC drama series to be broadcast with Ceefax subtitles for the hearing impaired.