Warship (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Warship was a popular British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 drama series produced by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 between 1973 and 1977. It was also dubbed into Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 and broadcast in the Netherlands
Nederland 1
Nederland 1 is the first national television station in the Netherlands, it was launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels Nederland 2 and 3. The several broadcasting organisations of the Publieke Omroep deliver programmes. A wide...

 as Alle hens. Four series were produced, with 45 episodes made in total, which became cult TV viewing in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

 and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.

The series dealt with life on board a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 warship
Warship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

, the fictional HMS Hero
HMS Hero
Six Royal Navy ships have been called HMS Hero:, a 74-gun third-rate launched in 1759, a prison ship after 1793, renamed Rochester in 1800, and broken up 1810., a 74-gun third-rate launched in 1803 and wrecked on 25 December 1811, with the loss of all her crew, inside the northern Haaks about five...

. It was mainly filmed aboard the Leander-class
Leander class frigate
The Leander class, or Type 12I frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973...

 frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 HMS Phoebe
HMS Phoebe (F42)
HMS Phoebe was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy . She was, like the rest of her class, named after a figure of mythology. Built by Vickers on the River Tyne, she was launched on the 19th December 1964 and commissioned on the 15th May 1966.In the year of her commission, Phoebe assisted in...

.

Plot

The episodes were written and filmed to reflect the reality of life in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 and the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 in the 1970s. The primary focus for most stories was on the Captain and his fellow officers
Naval officer ranks
Navies have military rank systems that often are quite different from those of armies or air forces. Sometimes, services that are considered parts of the navy – marine or amphibious corps – use the army-style ranks instead, while the ranks listed here are reserved for fleets.-NATO Rank...

, but the series also featured life on the lower decks to portray episodes heavily featuring ratings
Naval rating
A Naval Rating is an enlisted member of a country's Navy, subordinate to Warrant Officers and Officers hence not conferred by commission or warrant...

. Episodes featured a variety of events at sea (the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, smuggling, the evacuation of civilians from crisis-hit places, etc.), as well as the personal lives of officers
Naval officer ranks
Navies have military rank systems that often are quite different from those of armies or air forces. Sometimes, services that are considered parts of the navy – marine or amphibious corps – use the army-style ranks instead, while the ranks listed here are reserved for fleets.-NATO Rank...

 and ratings
Naval rating
A Naval Rating is an enlisted member of a country's Navy, subordinate to Warrant Officers and Officers hence not conferred by commission or warrant...

 and the impact their personal lives had on their professional lives and duties.

Cast

HMS Hero was—quite intentionally—portrayed as being captained by three very different officers throughout the series. Donald Burton
Donald Burton
Donald Burton was an English theatre and television actor. Burton was the husband of actress Carroll Baker....

 portrayed Commander Mark Nialls, a high flying young officer in the first two seasons, Bryan Marshall
Bryan Marshall
Bryan Marshall is an English actor, with a number of major credits in film and television to his name.Marshall was born in Clapham, London...

 portrayed Commander Alan Glenn, a former Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

 fighter pilot in the third season, and Derek Godfrey
Derek Godfrey
Derek Godfrey was a British actor who appeared in several films and BBC television dramatizations during the 1960s and 1970s....

 portrayed Captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...

 Edward Holt, a former nuclear submariner, in the fourth and final season.

The similarly contrasting First Lieutenants of HMS Hero were David Savile as Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...

 Derek Beaumont in the first three seasons, and in the fourth and final season Robert Morris
Robert Morris (actor)
Robert Morris is a British actor.His film credits include: Frankenstein Created Woman and Quatermass and the Pit....

 as Lieutenant Commander James Napier.

Other regular actors in the series included Andrew Burt
Andrew Burt
Andrew Burt is an English actor, who has appeared in many British TV drama series from the 1970s to the present day...

, James Cosmo
James Cosmo
James Cosmo is a prolific Scottish actor, with numerous credits in film and television since the late 1960s and Cosmo is still currently acting. Cosmo was born in Clydebank, Scotland, the son of actor James Copeland...

, Norman Eshley
Norman Eshley
Norman Eshley is an English actor best known for his roles on television.He is possibly best known for his role in the sitcom George and Mildred as the snobbish, right-wing real estate agent Jeffrey Fourmile, the foil to George...

, Graeme Eton, Don Henderson
Don Henderson
Don Henderson was an English actor whose film and TV work covered many years but is best remembered for his role as the fictional detective George Bulman...

, Nigel Humphreys
Nigel Humphreys
Nigel Humphreys is a British actor, best known for his television work.His most prominent roles include Dickie Fleming in Coronation Street and PC Pete Dodds in Softly, Softly: Taskforce....

, Frank Jarvis
Frank Jarvis (actor)
Frank Jarvis was a British character actor.He trained at RADA and made his film debut in Mix Me a Person ....

, John Lee
John Lee (actor)
John Lee was an Australian actor.He is remembered for his roles on television, including Andrew Reynolds in Prisoner and Philip Stewart in Return to Eden....

, Prunella Ransome
Prunella Ransome
Prunella Ransome was an English actress, primarily active on television and films.Born in Croydon, Surrey, Ransome is best known for her roles in films such as Far from the Madding Crowd , opposite Terence Stamp, for which she earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for playing the part of the maid...

 and Colin Rix
Colin Rix
-Selected filmography:* Strongroom * Panic * The Body Stealers * The Triple Echo * Aces High * The Medusa Touch * Porridge * Eye of the Needle * Dance with a Stranger...

.

Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy co-operation

The series enjoyed extremely close collaboration between the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, and—unusually for a TV drama of the 1970s—looked like a documentary. Five Leander-class frigate
Leander class frigate
The Leander class, or Type 12I frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973...

s played the role of HMS Hero and for continuity, all were repainted with the pennant number
Pennant number
In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...

 F42 of HMS Phoebe, the main warship used for filming. The others were HMS Danae
HMS Danae (F47)
HMS Danae was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy . She was, like the rest of the class, named after a figure of mythology. Danae was built by Devonport Dockyard...

, HMS Dido
HMS Dido (F104)
HMS Dido was a Royal Navy Leander class Batch 2TA frigate. Entering service in 1961, Dido was involved in the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, served with NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic on several occasions, and was one of the frigates used for the filming of the drama series...

, HMS Hermione
HMS Hermione (F58)
HMS Hermione was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy . She was, like the rest of her class, named after a figure of mythology. Hermione was built by Alexander Stephen and Sons, though she was completed by Yarrow Shipbuilders...

 and HMS Jupiter
HMS Jupiter (F60)
HMS Jupiter was a Batch 3 Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy . She was, like the rest of the class, named after a figure of mythology...

.

HMAS Derwent, a River-class destroyer escort
River class destroyer escort
The River class was a class of six destroyer escorts operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Plans to acquire four vessels, based on the British Type 12M frigate, began in the 1950s. The first two vessels had some slight modifications to the design, while the next two underwent further changes...

 of the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

, was also used as Hero for some scenes filmed in 1976 in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

.

The crews of these frigates - and Derwent - were given Hero cap tallies
Tally (cap)
The tally on a sailor's cap is a ribbon usually bearing the name of a ship or some other establishment to which he belongs.Practice varies with each navy, though a conventional tally is black, with a gold or yellow inscription. The inscription may be simply a ship's name The tally on a sailor's cap...

 for filming purposes, and their ships were given HMS Hero ships' badges, name plates and lifebuoys. Similarly, their Westland Wasp
Westland Wasp
The Westland Wasp was a British small first-generation, gas-turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and was based on the earlier piston-engined Saunders-Roe Skeeter...

 helicopters from the Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

's 829 Naval Air Squadron
829 Naval Air Squadron
829 Naval Air Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. It operates the AgustaWestland EH101 Merlin HM1 helicopter.-1940–1942:829 Naval Air Squadron first formed on 15 June 1940 as a torpedo and reconnaissance squadron at Royal Naval Air Station Ford, Sussex and equipped with nine...

 were all repainted with the identification HMS Hero, the code 471, and the nickname "The Fighting Forty-Two". Among the Wasp's used for the fictional Hero Flight were serial numbers
United Kingdom military aircraft serials
In the United Kingdom to identify individual aircraft, all military aircraft are allocated and display a unique serial number. A unified serial number system, maintained by the Air Ministry , and its successor the Ministry of Defence , is used for aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force , Fleet...

 XT419 from HMS Phoebe
HMS Phoebe (F42)
HMS Phoebe was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy . She was, like the rest of her class, named after a figure of mythology. Built by Vickers on the River Tyne, she was launched on the 19th December 1964 and commissioned on the 15th May 1966.In the year of her commission, Phoebe assisted in...

's Flight, XV625, and XV626. (One of these Wasps, XV625 still painted with the 471 code, is preserved at HMS Sultan in the Royal Naval Air Engineering and Survival School.) These measures, along with the use by all the frigates of the pennant number
Pennant number
In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...

 F42, had the unintended side effect of confusing Soviet spy ship
Spy ship
A spy ship or reconnaissance vessel is a dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence, usually by means of sophisticated electronic eavesdropping. In a wider sense, any ship intended to gather information could be considered a spy ship....

s.

Other Royal Navy warships used for the series included the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 HMS Ark Royal
HMS Ark Royal (R09)
HMS Ark Royal was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier...

, the helicopter cruiser HMS Blake
HMS Blake (C99)
HMS Blake was a guided missile cruiser of the Tiger class of the Royal Navy, the last of the Royal Navy cruisers. She was named after Admiral Robert Blake, a 17th century admiral who was the "Father of the Royal Navy". She was ordered in 1942 as one of the Minotaur class of light cruisers...

, the commando carrier HMS Bulwark
HMS Bulwark (R08)
The sixth HMS Bulwark of the Royal Navy was a 22,000 tonne Centaur-class light fleet aircraft carrier.-Construction:Bulwark was laid down by the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast on 10 May 1945...

 and the submarine HMS Andrew
HMS Andrew (P423)
HMS Andrew , was an Amphion-class submarine of the Royal Navy, built by Vickers Armstrong and launched on 6 April 1946.The submarine was fitted with a 4 inch deck gun in 1964 for service during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation to counter blockade running junks. The gun was fired for the...

. The Royal Marine Commandos took part in the series, as also did the Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

, the Royal Naval Reserve
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...

, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is a civilian-manned fleet owned by the British Ministry of Defence. The RFA enables ships of the United Kingdom Royal Navy to maintain operations around the world. Its primary role is to supply the Royal Navy with fuel, ammunition and supplies, normally by replenishment...

 in the shape of RFA Reliant
RFA Reliant (A84)
RFA Reliant was an air stores support ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary....

 and other ships, and the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service
Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service
The Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service was a British Government agency which ran a variety of non-combat support vessels for the Royal Navy.-Organisation:...

.

Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

 squadrons embarked on HMS Ark Royal
HMS Ark Royal (R09)
HMS Ark Royal was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier...

 used for filming included the Buccaneer S 2
Blackburn Buccaneer
The Blackburn Buccaneer was a British low-level subsonic strike aircraft with nuclear weapon delivery capability serving with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force between 1962 and 1994, including service in the 1991 Gulf War...

s of 809 Naval Air Squadron
809 Naval Air Squadron
-WWII:Formed in January 1941 at St Merryn with 12 Fairey Fulmars, the squadron embarked in HMS Victorious in July 1941. At first involved in operations against Petsamo and Bodø, and then the convoys to North Russia, Victorious and her air group fought in the Mediterranean from July 1942, including...

 and the Phantom FG 1s of 892 Naval Air Squadron
892 Naval Air Squadron
892 Naval Air Squadron was a carrier-based fighter squadron of the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was formed in 1943, flying Grumman Martlets, and was the only operational Fleet Air Arm squadron to fly the McDonnell Phantom FG.1.-History:...

. The Westland Wessex HU 5
Westland Wessex
The Westland Wessex is a British turbine-powered version of the Sikorsky S-58 "Choctaw", developed under license by Westland Aircraft , initially for the Royal Navy, and later for the Royal Air Force...

s of 845 Naval Air Squadron embarked on HMS Bulwark
HMS Bulwark (R08)
The sixth HMS Bulwark of the Royal Navy was a 22,000 tonne Centaur-class light fleet aircraft carrier.-Construction:Bulwark was laid down by the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast on 10 May 1945...

 also featured in some episodes.

The series was also filmed ashore in, among other places, Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, Hong Kong
HMS Tamar (shore station)
HMS Tamar was the name for the Royal Navy's base in Hong Kong from 1897 to 1997. It took its name from HMS Tamar a ship that was used as the base until replaced by buildings ashore.-19th Century:...

, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, north-east of Isfjellet in Loppa
Loppa
Loppa is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Øksfjord. Loppa was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...

 and Larvik
Larvik
is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. Larvik kommune - has about 41 364 inhabitants and covers 530 km2....

 in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, the Admiralty Experiment Works in Haslar
Haslar
Haslar is place in England, at the southern tip of Alverstoke, on the Gosport peninsula, Hampshire. It takes its name from Anglo-Saxon hæsel-ōra = "hazel - landing place"...

, RNAS Predannack
Predannack Airfield
Predannack Airfield is situated near Mullion on Cornwall's Lizard Peninsula in the United Kingdom. The runways are operated by the Royal Navy and today it is used as a satellite airfield and relief landing ground for nearby RNAS Culdrose.-World War II:...

, Portland Harbour
Portland Harbour
Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, off Dorset, on the south coast of England. It is one of the largest man-made harbours in the world. Grid reference: .-History:...

, Plymouth Dockyard, Portsmouth Dockyard and South Uist
South Uist
South Uist is an island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. In the 2001 census it had a usually resident population of 1,818. There is a nature reserve and a number of sites of archaeological interest, including the only location in Great Britain where prehistoric mummies have been found. The...

.

Theme music

The opening and closing music of the series was taken from a march played by the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

, called Warship, composed for the series by Anthony Isaac. (See links to files of opening and closing music below.) It is still played by Royal Marine bands
Royal Marines Band Service
The Royal Marines Band Service is the musical wing of the Royal Navy. It currently consists of five Bands and its headquarters is the Royal Marines School of Music at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth dockyard.-History:...

. The theme influenced the opening bars of a 2010 march
March (music)
A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...

, Scrap Iron Flotilla
Scrap Iron Flotilla
The Scrap Iron Flotilla was an Australian destroyer group that operated in the Mediterranean and Pacific during World War II. The name scrap iron flotilla was bestowed upon the group by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels....

, composed by Leading Seaman
Leading Seaman
Leading seaman is a junior non-commissioned rank or rate in navies, particularly those of the Commonwealth. When it is used by NATO nations, leading seaman has the rank code of OR-4. It is often equivalent to the army and air force rank of corporal and some navies use corporal rather than...

 Martyn Hancock of the Royal Australian Navy Band.

Series creators

The originator of the idea for the series and main script editor was a serving Royal Navy officer, Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh, MBE, was a Scottish naval officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.His first novel, A Slaying in September, was published in 1967...

, 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
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...

had done for the Police". Apart from Mackintosh, other scriptwriters included Michael J. Bird
Michael J. Bird
Michael J. Bird was an English writer.In addition to several novels, he was perhaps best known for the television dramas he wrote for the BBC...

, and the series was directed by Michael E. Briant
Michael E. Briant
Michael E. Briant is best known as a British television director, but he is also a producer and actor....

 among others. Mackintosh was seconded to the BBC for the series, and was awarded the MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 for his work on Warship in 1976.

Warship and Blue Peter

The BBC's children's television programme Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...

did a broadcast of Warship being filmed at Plymouth Dockyard aboard HMS Danae, with Lesley Judd
Lesley Judd
Lesley Judd is an English dancer and TV presenter, best known as a long-serving host of the BBC children's programme Blue Peter. She was educated at the independent Royal Ballet School...

 in 1975. The next year, future Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan
Peter Duncan (actor)
Peter Duncan is a British actor and television presenter, best known as a former presenter of Blue Peter and for his later family travel documentaries.-Education:...

 had played a major role in the episode All of One Company. Six episodes of Warship were filmed aboard HMS Danae around that time.

Falkland Islands tensions depicted

One 1977 episode, A Matter of History, depicted a visit by HMS Hero to a fictional British Overseas Territory
British overseas territories
The British Overseas Territories are fourteen territories of the United Kingdom which, although they do not form part of the United Kingdom itself, fall under its jurisdiction. They are remnants of the British Empire that have not acquired independence or have voted to remain British territories...

Eddowes Island—at the time of its handover to an unnamed Latin American country. Eddowes is described as being 50 miles offshore, and the islanders are stated as being offered a choice between retaining British nationality and leaving, or staying and becoming citizens of the unnamed country. The tensions this caused amongst islanders, the ship's company - one of whom is described as having been born on Eddowes - and British and Eddowes government officials are depicted in a realistic way. There were very strong parallels with the contemporary Falkland Islands situation, and the episode foreshadowed the events that led to the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

.

Much of the episode was filmed on Dartmoor
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...

, states the Michael J. Bird website (link below). During filming of this episode, series creator Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh, MBE, was a Scottish naval officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.His first novel, A Slaying in September, was published in 1967...

 received news that he had been awarded an MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 for his work on Warship.

Warship assessed in retrospect

Writing in 2006, historian Professor S.P. MacKenzie
Simon MacKenzie
Simon MacKenzie is a military historian, author and academic.He was educated at the University of Toronto and received a PhD from the University of Oxford in 1989.He currently teaches at the University of South Carolina...

 judged that:
"Warship had succeeded where Making Waves failed because those involved – the multi-talented Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh, MBE, was a Scottish naval officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.His first novel, A Slaying in September, was published in 1967...

 above all – managed to create varied and interesting characters and plots in which RN frigates and other vessels served as useful backdrops for the action. Warship, in short, helped the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 through a combination of competent writing, acting and direction rather more than through using its equipment as a showcase. (...) Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh, MBE, was a Scottish naval officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.His first novel, A Slaying in September, was published in 1967...

 and those around him knew how to draw in the viewer with stories that were both contemporary and interesting.” (Broadcasting the New Navy: the BBC-TV Series Warship (1973-1977), p.119)


After Warship, Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh, MBE, was a Scottish naval officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.His first novel, A Slaying in September, was published in 1967...

 wrote the equally successful ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 drama series The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers is a British television drama series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and...

, described in the New York Times on 12 October 2003, by Terrence Rafferty
Terrence Rafferty
Terrence Rafferty is a film critic, notably serving a regular post at The New Yorker during the 1990s. His writing has also appeared in Slate, The Atlantic Monthly, The Village Voice, The Nation, and The New York Times...

, as "the best spy series in television history".

Books

Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh, MBE, was a Scottish naval officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.His first novel, A Slaying in September, was published in 1967...

 wrote three books based on the series, which were simultaneously published in hardback and paperback. The books were:
  • Warship (published in 1973)
  • HMS Hero (published in 1976)
  • Holt RN (published in 1977)

Board game

Series creator Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh, MBE, was a Scottish naval officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.His first novel, A Slaying in September, was published in 1967...

 also devised a version of the board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

 Battleships
Battleship (game)
The game Battleship is a guessing game played by two people. It is known throughout the world as a pencil and paper game which predates World War I. It was published by Milton Bradley Company in 1931 as the pad-and-pencil game "Broadsides, the Game of Naval Strategy".-Description:The game is...

, based on his experience of modern naval tactics
Modern naval tactics
The term modern naval tactics refers to tactical doctrines developed after World War II, following the final obsolescence of the battleship and the development of long-range missiles. Since there has been no major naval conflict since World War II, with the exception of the Falklands War, many of...

 and called Warship after the series. It was produced by Merit Toys
J & L Randall
J & L Randall Ltd was a British toy manufacturer, based in Potters Bar, which was in Middlesex until 1965 and then in Hertfordshire. The company flourished in the 1950s and 1960s and placed regular advertisements in Meccano Magazine...

 in 1976, in association with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

.

Scale model kit

Airfix
Airfix
Airfix is a UK manufacturer of plastic scale model kits of aircraft and other subjects. In Britain, the name Airfix is synonymous with the hobby, a plastic model of this type is often simply referred to as "an airfix kit" even if made by another manufacturer....

 produced a plastic 1/600 scale model
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...

 kit with decal
Decal
A decal or transfer is a plastic, cloth, paper or ceramic substrate that has printed on it a pattern or image that can be moved to another surface upon contact, usually with the aid of heat or water. The word is short for decalcomania...

s for the fictional HMS Hero, using their model kit of HMS Leander
HMS Leander (F109)
HMS Leander was the nameship of the of the Royal Navy . She was originally intended to be part of the and would have been known as Weymouth. Leander was, like the rest of the class, named after a figure of mythology. She was built by the famous Harland & Wolff of Belfast...

.

Availability on DVD

The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 still has the episodes of Warship in store (see the BBC Programme Catalogue
BBC Programme Catalogue
The BBC Programme Catalogue is an online archive of the entire BBC back catalogue of TV and radio programmes. The catalogue is for internal use by the BBC although for a time a beta online version was available to the public...

), but unlike The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers is a British television drama series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and...

, DVDs of Warship have not yet been released commercially.

Episode list

Series 1:
  1. Hot Pursuit - 7 June 1973
  2. Nobody Said Frigate - 14 June 1973
  3. Off Caps - 21 June 1973
  4. Funny, They All Said That - 28 June 1973
  5. The Drop - 5 July 1973
  6. The Prize - 12 July 1973
  7. Subsmash - 19 July 1973
  8. A Standing And Jumping War - 2 August 1973
  9. Shoresides And Home - 9 August 1973


Series 2:
  1. The Raid - 15 October 1974
  2. Without Just Cause - 22 October 1974
  3. Who Run Across The Sea - 29 October 1974
  4. The Immortal Memory - 5 November 1974
  5. One of Those Days - 12 November 1974
  6. The Man From The Sea - 19 November 1974
  7. Nothing To Starboard - 26 November 1974
  8. Distant Waters - 3 December 1974
  9. Away Seaboat’s Crew - 10 December 1974
  10. Echo of Battle - 17 December 1974


Series 3:
  1. And Wings of Gold - 6 January 1976
  2. What Are Friends For? - 13 January 1976
  3. Knight Errant - 20 January 1976
  4. They Also Serve - 27 January 1976
  5. Under the Surface - 3 February 1976
  6. Rough Run Home - 10 February 1976
  7. All of One Company - 17 February 1976
  8. Quiet Run Ashore - 24 February 1976
  9. The Ides of Mark - 2 March 1976
  10. The Buccaneer - 9 March 1976
  11. Divert With Dispatch - 16 March 1976
  12. Heart of Oak - 23 March 1976
  13. First Turn of the Screw - 30 March 1976


Series 4:
  1. Wind Song - 4 January 1977
  2. Singapore Incident - 11 January 1977
  3. Diplomatic Package - 18 January 1977
  4. Rendezvous - 25 January 1977
  5. Girl From The Sea - 1 February 1977
  6. A Matter of History - 8 February 1977
  7. Counter Charge - 15 February 1977
  8. Man in Reserve - 22 February 1977
  9. Fall From Grace - 1 March 1977
  10. Jack Fell Down - 8 March 1977
  11. Robertson Crusoe - 15 March 1977
  12. Someone, Somewhere - 22 March 1977
  13. Operation Sting-Ray - 29 March 1977

See also

  • Ian Mackintosh
    Ian Mackintosh
    Ian Mackintosh, MBE, was a Scottish naval officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.His first novel, A Slaying in September, was published in 1967...

  • HMS Hero
    HMS Hero
    Six Royal Navy ships have been called HMS Hero:, a 74-gun third-rate launched in 1759, a prison ship after 1793, renamed Rochester in 1800, and broken up 1810., a 74-gun third-rate launched in 1803 and wrecked on 25 December 1811, with the loss of all her crew, inside the northern Haaks about five...

  • HMS Phoebe
    HMS Phoebe (F42)
    HMS Phoebe was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy . She was, like the rest of her class, named after a figure of mythology. Built by Vickers on the River Tyne, she was launched on the 19th December 1964 and commissioned on the 15th May 1966.In the year of her commission, Phoebe assisted in...

  • HMS Dido
    HMS Dido (F104)
    HMS Dido was a Royal Navy Leander class Batch 2TA frigate. Entering service in 1961, Dido was involved in the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, served with NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic on several occasions, and was one of the frigates used for the filming of the drama series...

  • HMS Hermione
    HMS Hermione (F58)
    HMS Hermione was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy . She was, like the rest of her class, named after a figure of mythology. Hermione was built by Alexander Stephen and Sons, though she was completed by Yarrow Shipbuilders...

  • HMS Jupiter
    HMS Jupiter (F60)
    HMS Jupiter was a Batch 3 Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy . She was, like the rest of the class, named after a figure of mythology...

    .
  • HMAS Derwent
  • Leander-class frigate
    Leander class frigate
    The Leander class, or Type 12I frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973...

  • River-class destroyer escort
    River class destroyer escort
    The River class was a class of six destroyer escorts operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Plans to acquire four vessels, based on the British Type 12M frigate, began in the 1950s. The first two vessels had some slight modifications to the design, while the next two underwent further changes...

  • Royal Navy
    Royal Navy
    The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

  • Royal Marines
    Royal Marines
    The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

  • Fleet Air Arm
    Fleet Air Arm
    The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

  • The Sandbaggers
    The Sandbaggers
    The Sandbaggers is a British television drama series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and...

  • Frigate
    Frigate
    A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

  • Patrol Boat (TV series)
    Patrol Boat (TV series)
    Patrol Boat is an Australian television drama series that screened on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Patrol Boat was created by James Davern and two series were produced, in 1979 and 1983, with a total of 26 episodes....

  • Making Waves

External links

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