Warship (1973 TV series)
Warship is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and broadcast between 1973 and 1977. The series was set contemporaneously and depicted life on board the fictitious Royal Navy frigate HMS "Hero". Four series were produced with 45 episodes made in total. It was also subtitled into Dutch and broadcast in the Netherlands as Alle hens aan dek (All hands on deck) and it enjoyed popularity in Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Plot. The episodes were written and filmed to reflect the reality of life in the Royal Navy and the Royal  Marines in the 1970s. The primary focus for most stories was on the Captain and his fellow officers, but the series also featured life on the lower decks to portray episodes heavily featuring ratings. Episodes featured a variety of events at sea (the Cold War, smuggling, the evacuation of civilians from crisis-hit places, etc.), as well as the personal lives of officers and ratings and the impact their personal lives had on their professional lives and duties. Cast. Over the course of the series HMS "Hero"'s crew changes periodically. Only two officers, Kiley and Wakelin, remain with the  ship for the whole series. The main characters in most episodes were the captain and his first lieutenant. Section::::"Hero"'s crew. First Lieutenants. Other officers Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy co-operation. The series enjoyed close collaboration between the Royal Navy and the BBC, and—unusually for a TV drama of the 1970s—looked like a documentary. Seven s played the role of HMS "Hero" and for continuity, all were repainted with the pennant number F42 of , the main warship used for filming. The others were , , , , and . , a of the Royal Australian Navy, was also used as "Hero" for  some scenes filmed in 1976 in Hong Kong and Singapore. This Australian link and Australian broadcasts of "Warship" influenced the production of the later and similar Australian Broadcasting Corporation series "Patrol Boat". The crews of these frigates - and "Derwent" - were given "Hero" cap tallies for filming purposes, and their ships were given HMS "Hero" ships' badges, name plates and lifebuoys. Similarly, their Westland Wasp helicopters from the Fleet Air Arm's 829 Naval Air Squadron were all repainted with the identification HMS "Hero", the code 471, and the nickname "The Fighting Forty-Two". Among the Wasps used for the fictional  Hero Flight were serial numbers XT419 from HMS "Phoebe"s Flight, XV625, and XV626. (One of these Wasps, XV625 still painted with the 471 code, is preserved at in the Royal Naval Air Engineering and Survival School.) These measures, along with the use by all the frigates of the pennant number F42, had the unintended side effect of confusing Soviet spy ships. Other Royal Navy warships used for the series included the aircraft carrier , the helicopter cruiser , the commando carrier and the submarine . The Royal Marine Commandos took part in the series, as also did the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal  Naval Reserve in the shape of the , the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in the shape of and other ships, and the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service. Fleet Air Arm squadrons embarked on HMS "Ark Royal" used for filming included the Buccaneer S 2s of 809 Naval Air Squadron and the Phantom FG 1s of 892 Naval Air Squadron. The Westland Wessex HU 5s of 845 Naval Air Squadron embarked on HMS "Bulwark" also featured in some episodes. The series was also filmed ashore in, among other places, Gibraltar, Malta, Hong Kong, Singapore, north-east of Isfjellet in Loppa and Larvik in Norway , the Admiralty Experiment Works in Haslar, RNAS Predannack, Portland Harbour, Plymouth Dockyard, Portsmouth Dockyard and South Uist. Theme music. The opening and closing music of the series were taken from a march called "Warship", composed for the series by Anthony Isaac. The theme was played by the Band of the Royal Marines, Deal, conducted by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Neville, MVO, FRAM, RM. "(See links to files of opening and closing music below.)" The march is still played by Royal Marine bands and the Royal Australian Navy Band. The theme influenced the opening bars of a 2010 march, "Scrap Iron Flotilla , composed by Leading Seaman Martyn Hancock of the Royal Australian Navy Band. Warship" was chosen as one of the pieces performed to mark the 75th and 100th anniversaries of the founding of the Royal Australian Navy Band. Writing in the Centenary Concert Music Program in 2013, the Royal Australian Navy's then-Director of Music, Lieutenant Commander Paul Cottier, said that: Series creators. The originator of the idea for the series and main script editor was a serving Royal Navy officer, Ian Mackintosh, who worked with BBC producer Anthony Coburn after Mackintosh originally approached the BBC in May 1971. Coburn  had for some years wanted to produce a series "that would do for the Navy what "Z-Cars" had done for the Police". Apart from Mackintosh, other scriptwriters included Michael J. Bird, and the series was directed by Michael E. Briant among others. Mackintosh was seconded to the BBC for the series, and was awarded the MBE for his work on "Warship" in 1976. Section::::"Warship" and "Blue Peter". In 1975 the BBC's children's television programme "Blue Peter" included a feature about the filming of "Warship" at Plymouth Dockyard aboard HMS "Danae"; the item was presented by Lesley Judd . The next year, future "Blue Peter" presenter Peter Duncan played a major role in the episode "All of One Company". Six episodes of "Warship" were filmed aboard HMS "Danae" around that time. Section::::"Warship" assessed in retrospect. Writing in 2006, historian Professor S.P. MacKenzie judged that: "Making Waves" was a 2004 series made by ITV, and intended to be in the same vein as "Warship". It proved less successful, and only three episodes were shown out of the six that were made. In 2022 the British Forces Broadcasting Service noted that "Warship" was "extremely popular ... and it is still fondly remembered  to this day". Products based on "Warship". Books. Ian Mackintosh wrote three books based on the series, which were simultaneously published in hardback and paperback. The books were: Board game. Series creator Ian Mackintosh also devised a version of the board game Battleships, based on his experience of modern naval tactics and called "Warship" after the series. It was produced by Merit Toys in 1976, in association with the BBC. Scale model kit. Airfix sold its plastic 1/600 scale model kit of HMS "Leander" with the slogan "Featured as HMS Hero in the BBC TV series Warship". Theme music single . Columbia Records released a 7-inch single (catalogue reference DB 8998) of the theme music (see above) in 1973. As in the TV series the theme was played by the Band of the Royal Marines, Deal, conducted by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Neville, MVO, FRAM, RM. Availability on DVD. The first series of "Warship" was released on DVD in September 2014, with the second series being released 9 November 2015.