Around this, it depicts the lives of his family, most notably his brother and partner Robert, a ship chandler, and his sister Elizabeth, giving insight into the lifestyle and customs at the time, not only at sea, but also ashore (mostly lower- and upper-middle-class).

[2] A 55-minute pilot episode for the series aired as part of BBC One's Drama Playhouse strand on 7 December 1970, produced by Anthony Coburn.

Several years later, James considers two possible replacement wives: wealthy and emancipated widow Caroline Maudsley, and the young heiress Leonora Biddulph (Kate Nelligan), ultimately being rejected by both.

On his release, he takes to the sea again with Captain Baines, on business to South America, stabilising his life for the next 20 years, only to find Margarita as a stowaway.

Anne is the conscience of James and, when she cannot take his ruthless business behaviour any longer, leaves him to live hand-to-mouth in the Liverpool slums, seriously affecting her health.

After James spends the money promised for their new house to buy another ship, the "Maria da Gloria", Anne has a miscarriage, brought on by carrying coal from the cellar to her kitchen.

By the end of Series 3, Elizabeth is intending to run off with him to Australia, until she is informed that their plans will be financed by money that is rightfully her husband's[clarification needed].

16 years after he left, Daniel Fogarty returns from Australia, where he has amassed a fortune, and marries Elizabeth, whom he still loves, to help and advise his son, who retains the name Frazer.

Robert Onedin (Brian Rawlinson/James Garbutt (one series)), James's older brother, takes after their father and counts coppers in the family ship chandlery, though he later expands it into a profitable department store, after visiting the United States to see new methods of selling.

Robert is elected as a member of Parliament; he and Sarah move to a smart new residence, but his life abruptly comes to an end when he chokes on a bone at a family dinner.

In the final episode of the series, during a voyage "'round the Horn", she gives birth to James's son, Will Onedin, named after Captain Baines.

Based on the travels (including voyages to Australia, around the Horn to the American West Coast, to The Confederate States of America, some time spent recouping James' fortune by trading around the world, including to East Africa and their final race back from China against Daniel Fogarty, with tea clipper fleet) and events (a miscarriage, some time spent living separately, the setting up of Onedin Warehouses, the acquiring and loss of the Pampero and 4 different houses) that happened during James and Anne's marriage, she must be at least several years younger than Samuel and William.

Charlotte, after staying with her aunt, left to take up a career as an actress and music hall singer "The Lancashire Nightingale" much to the horror of her father; although alleviated by the money she was earning.

After he seduced her, they married, their honeymoon being a race against James to China and back to gain the controlling balance of Onedin Line shares.

When he returned from Australia, 16 years later, Emma was living in seclusion with consumption, dying shortly afterwards (in the early 1890s) and leaving her share of the Frazer Line to Daniel.

In the TV series James Onedin's first ship, the Charlotte Rhodes, was portrayed by a schooner of the same name, built in 1904 in Fjellebroens Shipyard, Denmark, by F.

His other sailing ships included the Pampero, the Medusa, the Søren Larsen, the ex-Portuguese slaver "Maria di Gloria", the Neptune, the Falcon, the Trident, the Osprey, the "Orphia", the "Oberon", the "Orpheus", the "Esther Lohse", the "Osiris", the steamship Shearwater, the Christian Radich, the Thorsoe, the steamer Black Pearl, the Jenny Peak renamed the Letty Gaunt, the Ondine, the Orlando, the Star of Bethlehem, the Teawynd and the Lady Lazenby.

However, he noticed that most of these companies had their origins in the 19th century, mostly started by one shrewd and far-sighted individual who, through his own business acumen, built up a shipping line from nothing.

An article in Woman magazine published in July 1973 featured an interview with Cyril Abraham in which he recalled how he came up with the very unusual family name Onedin.

The last series was filmed in Pembroke Dock, Wales, where the 18th-century naval dockyard and surrounding streets became Liverpool, and various coastal locations in the Pembrokeshire area substituted for Turkey and Portugal.

Due to its popularity in Sweden, the series inspired the name for a real-life shipping line in Stockholm, the Ånedin-Linjen, founded in 1973, which until recently operated cruises in the Baltic.

Traditional music, including folk songs and sea shanties in particular, are heard in abundance throughout the series, including such songs as "The Maid of Amsterdam", "Ruben Ranzo", "South Australia", "Maggie May", "The Sailor's Hornpipe", "Botany Bay", "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes", "A Hundred Years Ago", "Blow the Man Down", and "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at".

Other featured cast members included Philip Bond (Albert Frazer), Edward Chapman (Thomas Callon), James Warwick (Edmund Callon), John Phillips (Jack Frazer), Caroline Harris (Caroline Maudslay), James Hayter (Captain Joshua Webster), Ken Hutchison (Matt Harvey), Laura Hartong (Charlotte Onedin), Marc Harrison (William Frazer), Christopher Douglas (Samuel Onedin), Roberta Iger (Margarita Onedin), Jenny Twigge (Caroline Onedin), Cyril Shaps (Braganza), Hilda Braid (Miss Simmonds), David Garfield (Samuel Plimsoll), Robert James (Rowland Biddulph), Sylvia Coleridge (Mrs Salt), Sonia Dresdel (Lady Lazenby), Nicolette Roeg (Ada Gamble), John Rapley (Dunwoody), Stephanie Bidmead (Mrs Darling), John Sharp (Uncle Percy Spendilow), Heather Canning (Mrs Arkwright), Keith Jayne (Tom Arnold), Frederick Jaeger (Max van der Rheede), Edward Judd (Manuel Ortega), Elizabeth Chambers (Miss Gladstone), Jack Watson (Dr Darling), Paul Lavers (Francis Polter/David Teal) and Maurice Colbourne (Viscount Marston).

Victoria Thomas is a female child actress who played Charlotte Onedin in Month of the Albatross, A Clear Conscience and Undercurrent.

In print, Elizabeth's child is conceived in a private room above a restaurant, not on the Charlotte Rhodes; George Callon lasted considerably longer and died in bed after suffering a stroke, not in a warehouse fire; Emma was Callon's daughter, not his niece; Captain Webster remarried, his new partner being the irrepressible old crone Widow Malloy, an entertaining character with a repertoire of coarse remarks; Albert did not abscond to Patagonia but died aboard ship following his involvement in retrieving a kidnapped Elizabeth from Daniel Fogarty; Caroline Maudslay and Matt Harvey were omitted altogether (though Matt did appear in two short stories - see below); Jack Frazer's life was extended and he lived to see both Emma's death and Daniel's return from Australia, though his television discovery that William was not his grandson never took place.

Letty was depicted as a jealous harpy aiming unpleasant remarks at Charlotte; Elizabeth and Daniel ended up emigrating to Australia permanently and James became the owner of the Frazer Line.

There is a slanging match between Elizabeth and Sarah, who each disparage the circumstances of the other's wedding day until Leonora intervenes to restore peace.

Peter Graham Scott's autobiography British Television: An Insider's Story (McFarland & Company, 2000) includes a full (25-page) chapter on the setting-up of the series and his time as producer (and occasional director/writer) on the first 42 episodes, along with six behind-the-scenes black-and-white photos.

The pilot was produced by Anthony Coburn[citation needed] and was broadcast as a one-off BBC Drama Playhouse production on 7 December 1970.

Consequently, to flee this propaganda the population tuned into foreign stations (if possible) to continue watching their favourite tv shows but also to receive uncensored news about events like the fall of the Berlin Wall.