Classic TV Drama: The Onedin Line – #74 – S07 E02 – “The Homecoming”

A great Brit TV Classic – this episode

The episode opens with Baines engaged in an unexplained fight on the quay ending up with a broken arm. A Captain Burgess intervenes and patches him up. James reprimands Baines and says that a spell ashore will do him good including time spent on the floor of The Exchange. William calls on Charlotte but is turned away. He talks to Samuel on the floor of The Exchange and is told to stay away from Charlotte or he will ‘horsewhip him in public’. Elizabeth tells Dunwoody, who is playing an increasingly important role in the company, that she plans to go away for a holiday and that they need to discuss his salary and position. In an attempt to save their marriage, Daniel asks Elizabeth to go horse riding with him. She declines only to change her mind and return home to find Daniel on the telephone telling his mistress, Angela Taplow, not to call him at his house. Captain Burgess looks for Baines with a bottle of whiskey but finds James instead and they discuss business over a glass or two. James points out that Burgess’ ship has been impounded and offers a partnership to pay off the debts on his steamer, the Black Pearl. William encounters Charlotte walking with her pram and asks to see his son but she refuses telling him that she despises him. At the quay in a shock ending to the episode William makes an heroic attempt to stop a runaway carriage. He succeeds saving many lives but is thrown off hitting his head and is killed. Charlotte is bereft telling Samuel that it would have been such a simple thing to have let him see his son. After the funeral Daniel is set to return to London in a few hours, however Elizabeth says ‘walk with me in the garden’ hinting at a reconciliation.

The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series, which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham.

The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886^[1] and covers the rise of a fictional shipping company, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin. Around this, it depicts the lives of his family, most notably his brother and partner Robert, a ship chandler, and his sister Elizabeth, giving insight into the lifestyle and customs at the time, not only at sea, but also ashore (mostly lower- and upper-middle-class). The series also illustrates some of the changes in business and shipping, such as from wooden to steel ships and from sailing ships to steamships. It shows the role that ships played in such matters as international politics, uprisings and the slave trade.