The
lowdown: 'The Buccaneers' was an ITC Entertainment children's
drama series that was broadcast on ITV between 19
September 1956 and 12 June
1957. A total of 39 episodes were made, starring Robert Shaw as former
pirate Captain Dan
Tempest. The series
was set in the West Indies in the 1720s, and it began with Woodes Rogers,
the new Governor of the
British Caribbean province
of New Providence, offering a pardon to all of the pirates in the region.
Dan Tempest and the crew
of his ship, The Sultana,
arrive at New Providence several weeks later and are arrested for piracy,
but the deputy governor Lt.
Beamish convinces Tempest
to give up his life of piracy and help to defend New Providence from pirates.
The Sultana's crew
included Armando (Edwin
Richfield), Taffy (Paul Hansard), Gaff (Brian Rawlinson) and Dickon (Wilfrid
Downing). Interestingly,
Robert Shaw himself does
not appear until the third episode, apparently due to other commitments.
The
episode: 'Dangerous Cargo' was the 20th episode of the
series, and was broadcast on January 30, 1957. The crew of
the Sultana are ordered
to rendevous with HMS Scarborough, where Captain James Steele is
to deliver Lady Hilary Winrod
into the safe custody of
Tempest, who is to take her to Barbados. Lady Winrod is the wife of the
Governor of Barbados, and
she is apparently travelling
there for her honeymoon. Lady Winrod is reluctant to go on Tempest's ship,
and he leaves for his
own ship without her. Lady
Winrod is carrying a message regarding negotiations between England and
an unnamed country,
which could influence the
outcome of the war with Spain. Lady Winrod tells Captain Steel that she
is not important, but the
message must be delivered.
The Scarborough comes under attack from a Spanish ship commanded
by Captain Mendoza
(Roger Delgado in the first
of three appearances in the series). Tempest returns to the Scarborough
to rescue Lady Winrod,
and they set off for Barbados in a small boat. The Admiralty orders Tempest
to be hunted down and destroyed as an enemy
and a traitor, and the Sultana
is put under the command of Beamish. Tempest and Lady Winrod arrive at
Barbados and take
refuge in a rough coffeehouse
called the Five Keys, where they are tracked down by Mendoza. Tempest rescues
the woman
from Mendoza's ship and
delivers her to the Governor.
Who
connections: A number of other Doctor Who actors
were in this series, including Roy Purcell (The Mind of Evil
and
The Three Doctors),
Derek Waring (Shardovan in Castrovalva), John Dearth (Lupton
in Planet of Spiders and the voice of
BOSS in The Green Death),
Edwin Richfield (Captain Hart in The Sea Devils and Nestor in The
Twin Dilemma), Joan Sims
(Katryca in Trial of
a Time Lord). Derek Sydney (Sevcheria in The Romans) and Neil
Hallett (Time Lash).
Video
clips: Captain
Mendoza 7.0mb
Tempest to the rescue
5.1mb |
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