The Buccaneers (1956 TV series)
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about". Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox television The Buccaneers was a 1956 Sapphire Films television drama series for ITC Entertainment, broadcast by CBS in the US and shown on ATV and regional ITV companies as they came on air during the infancy of ITV in the UK.
Starring Robert Shaw as Captain Dan Tempest, the series, aimed at teenagers, followed the adventures of Tempest and his crew of former pirates as they made their way across the seven seas in the Sultana.[1]
This series was one of several swashbuckling adventure series produced during this period by or for Lew Grade's ITC.
Production notes
The series ran for 39 half-hour black-and-white episodes and was produced by Hannah Weinstein and Sidney Cole for Sapphire Films Limited. The episodes were made at Nettlefold Studios at Walton-on-Thames using two studios with seven or eight standing sets. A real schooner was based at Falmouth, Cornwall and a faithful reproduction of part of it in a studio corner.[2]
Rupert Evans, stunt artist, former army teacher of physical training, taught Robert Shaw fencing.[2]
The series was set in the Port of Nassau in New Providence in about 1722.[2]
Sources report that Robert Shaw was unavailable for the first few episodes, but nevertheless shooting went ahead without him.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
The complete series is available on R2 DVD from Network in the UK. There are a number of public-domain DVDs of the series in the North American market, as well as a complete series release.
Cast and characters
- Robert Shaw as Captain Dan Tempest
- Peter Hammond as Lieutenant Edward Beamish
- Brian Rawlinson as Gaff Guernsey
- Paul Hansard as Taffy the Welshman
- Wilfred Downing as Dickon
- Edwin Richfield as Armando
- Neil Hallett as Boatswain Sam Bassett
- Willoughby Gray as Pop
- Jane Griffiths as Paula
- Alec Mango as Mr. Van Brugh
Various characters were often played by Tony Thawnton, Terence Cooper, Rupert Evans, Roy Purcell and Denis Lacey.
Historical characters
- Blackbeard played by George Margo, Terence Cooper
- Governor Woodes Rogers played by Alec Clunes
- Anne Bonny played by Hazel Court
- John Rackham played by Brian Worth
- Bartholomew Roberts played by Alex Scott
- Charles Vane played by Brian Worth
- Benjamin Hornigold played by Andrew Crawford
Episode list
Airdate is for ATV Midlands[3] ITV regions varied date and order. Template:Episode table
Music
The show's ending theme contained the chorus:
Let's go a-roving, a-roving across the ocean
Oh, let's go a-roving and join the buccaneers!
We'll find adventure, adventure across the ocean
Oh, we'll find adventure and join the buccaneers!
Sea shanties and traditional songs were incorporated into the show. Early episodes begin with sailors singing "Blow, Ye Winds, in the Morning," an anachronistic American whaling song. The second episode, "The Raiders," is the only episode to use "The Maid of Amsterdam" as its ending theme. Other songs performed in the show include:
- "Drunken Sailor" (in "Printer's Devil")
- "Haul Away, Joe" (in various episodes including "Dan Tempest's War with Spain")
- "Johnny Come Down to Hilo" (in "Mother Doughty's Crew")
- "O Shenandoah" (in "Gentleman Jack and the Lady")
- "Spanish Ladies" (in "The Ladies")
- "Shake Her, Johnny, Shake Her" (in "Hurricane" and "Flip and Jenny")
- "Venezuela" by John Jacob Niles (in "Mother Doughty's Crew")
DVD and book releases
Dell Comics Four Color #800 was based on the show. The Buccaneers (1958) was a Whitman “Big Little Book”: 276 pages half of them are Russ Manning illustrations, the rest are a story written by Alice Sankey. The adventure story sends Captain Dan Tempest (a buccaneer, or privateer, unofficially serving the English king) and his crew of ex-pirates, after the notorious Blackbeard, and Dan's ship “Sultana” battles with Blackbeard’s famous ship, “Queen Anne's Revenge”. The story includes a treasure map and a treasure, a ship's boy and his cat.
Mill Creek Entertainment released the complete series in Region 1 on 15 August 2006.[4] This release has been discontinued and is now out of print.
Network Distributing Home Entertainment (under licence from Granada Ventures Ltd) released the complete series in Region 2 on June 1, 2007.[5]
On 19 August 2008, Timeless Media Group released a 3-disc best-of set that features 30 episodes of the series.[6]
References
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- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c Margaret Cohen feature in TV Times 21 September 1956 page 33
- ↑ Before 1968 ATV transmitted weekdays in the Midlands and weekends in London. See History of ITV
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Network promo [1] retrieved Dec 2011
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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External links
- Screen Online
- CTA information
- Template:Trim/ Template:Trim at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:WikidataCheck
- [2] Modern map of New Providence.
![[2]](https://web.archive.org/web/20070712230314/http://islands.thebahamian.com/map_nasraw.jpg){kind=link}
- Pages with script errors
- Pages with broken file links
- 1956 British television series debuts
- 1957 British television series endings
- Fiction set in 1722
- British drama television series
- Television series by ITC Entertainment
- ITV television dramas
- Television series set in the Golden Age of Piracy
- British adventure television series
- 1950s British drama television series
- Television series set in the 18th century
- Black-and-white British television shows
- British English-language television shows
- Nautical television series
- Cultural depictions of Blackbeard
- Swashbuckler television series