# Buccaneer (TV series)

Buccaneer is a television series, made by the BBC 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, 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.
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'. 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, 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's better-remembered post-Second World War drama Airline, starring Roy Marsden, which was first broadcast in 1982.

## Regular cast

* Bryan Marshall - Tony Blair
* Clifford Rose - Charles Burton
* Pamela Salem - Monica Burton
* Mark Jones - Ray Mason
* Carolyn Courage - Kim Hayward
* Shirley Anne Field - Janet Blair

## Episodes

| # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Designed by | Original airdate |
| 1 | "Reluctant Hero" | Ken Grieve | J. B. Flack | Myles Lang | 27 April 1980 (1980-04-27) |
| 2 | "Albatross" | Marc Miller | J. B. Flack | Stanley Morris | 4 May 1980 (1980-05-04) |
| 3 | "Grounded" | Andrew Morgan | N. J. Crisp | Myles Lang | 11 May 1980 (1980-05-11) |
| 4 | "A Kind of Cuckoo" | Ken Grieve | N. J. Crisp | Stanley Morris | 18 May 1980 (1980-05-18) |
| 5 | "Let's Make a Killing" | Marc Miller | John Brason | Myles Lang | 25 May 1980 (1980-05-25) |
| 6 | "The Thin End" | Andrew Morgan | John Brason | Stanley Morris | 1 June 1980 (1980-06-01) |
| 7 | "Somebody's Telling Lies" | Tristan de Vere Cole | David Crane | Mary Spencer | 8 June 1980 (1980-06-08) |
| 8 | "Private Arrangements" | Marc Miller | David Crane | Stanley Morris | 15 June 1980 (1980-06-15) |
| 9 | "Intruders" | Andrew Morgan | Ben Steed | Myles Lang | 22 June 1980 (1980-06-22) |
| 10 | "Feet of Clay" | Tristan de Vere Cole | Ben Steed | Stanley Morris | 29 June 1980 (1980-06-29) |
| 11 | "Eldorado" | Marc Miller | N. J. Crisp | Myles Lang | 6 July 1980 (1980-07-06) |
| 12 | "A No Go Item" | Andrew Morgan | N. J. Crisp | Stanley Morris | 13 July 1980 (1980-07-13) |
| 13 | "Emergency" | Tristan de Vere Cole | N. J. Crisp | Mary Spencer | 20 July 1980 (1980-07-20) |