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Publicity : Something Fishy … is going on in Artic waters when the Caistor, a British deep-sea trawler, suddenly vanishes off the coast of Norway. The seed for this six-part drama series was sown by a real-life tragedy. Mike Phillips reports: In February 1974, the Hull trawler Gaul disappeared during a storm off the coast of Norway. After an intensive search and a formal inquiry, the ship was presumed sunk, and her crew of thirty-six drowned. For a fishing port like Hull the event was traumatic but not extraordinary. Going to sea is a dangerous occupation. The oddity was that the families and friends of the crew refused to accept the conclusion of the inquiry - that the Gaul has capsized and gone down in heavy seas. Nearly ten years later most of them still believe the Gaul was on a spying mission, which was ended by the Soviet navy. Spyship is adapted from the book of the same name, the idea for which was sparked off by the disappearance of the Gaul. The authors, Tom Keene and Brian Haynes, were reporters who investigated the incident at the time for Thames Television. They, along with everyone involved with the television series, are quick to point out that both the book and the serial are fiction. The rumours, however, which followed the trawler's disappearance, were based on a number of features which would have been appropriate in any thriller. For instance, she wasn't a little fishing boat, but a one-thousand-and-six-ton factory freezer vessel, only two years old - an ocean-going ship specially designed for Arctic waters. All her radio equipment remained silent, even the automatic Mayday transmission. There was no wreckage, and nothing was found until nearly two months later, when a life-belt was picked up off Norway. Above all, the ship disappeared in the Arctic waters off northern Norway, where the forces of NATO and the Soviet Union keep a close watch on each others' manoeuvres along the frozen wastes of the international border. This fact provides one of the themes of the serial. "There is an element," says producer Colin Rogers, "of trying to say something about civilians being used for military purposes. When we filmed around Hull no one was in any doubt that some ships are used for spying. The point is that any British shop of that kind is gathering information as it goes about its normal business - weather reports of various kinds of technical data. From there, it's a thin dividing line". The issue of secrecy and espionage gives the plot its impetus, but the action is rooted in the characters and daily life of the fishing port. The core of the drama is about the experience of ordinary families whose loved ones disappeared. "I hope that it's a new trend in thrillers," says Rogers. "We all got involved in it because we saw it as a drama about real people facing up to things which take place at a much higher level, which they never get a chance to confront, even though they're affected - people reacting to a situation they're put in, and fighting back". (Radio Times, November 5, 1983 - Article by Mike Phillips). Synopsis : The Arctic waters off northern Norway, an icy international border where the military forces of NATO and the Soviet Union play a cat-and-mouse game of surveillance and counter-surveillance. These same waters are prime fishing grounds and the destination of deep-sea trawlers of many nations. One such trawler is the Caistor... Notes : The series was designed by Myles Lang. Episodes were originally transmitted 8:05pm to 9:00pm on BBC 1. Incidental Music and the Signature Tune for the series were provided by Richard Harvey.
Synopsis
: The
British trawler Caistor has disappeared
in the Barents Sea. Martin Taylor, son
of the Chief Engineer, waits for news
in the ship's home port with Suzy, an
old schoolfriend. Now the official search
has been abandoned, a private expedition
to Norway is being organized by Tom
Silvers, brother of one of the crew,
but both British and Soviet Intelligence
are determined to suppress public anxiety.
As the official inquiry is announced,
a lifebuoy is found by a Norwegian fisherman…
Synopsis : The public inquiry into the disappearance of the trawler Caistor has been interrupted by widows of the crew blaming the Russians. Martin Taylor, more determined to discover the truth, sets out to trace a letter sent home by the ship's radio operator - but Evans has got there first.
Synopsis : Martin now knows that the Caistor was equipped for spying. Hillmore, having uncovered Main's illicit operation, suspends him, unaware that Evans has gone to ground - with orders to kill Martin.
Synopsis : Episode five of the six-part serial about the mysterious disappearance of a British trawler in the Bering Sea.
Synopsis : In Arctic Norway, Martin has found an ally in local journalist Erik Starvik. Back home, Suzy is in hospital after being attacked by Evans - and the information he forced out of her has put him back on Martin's trail.
The series was written by James Mitchell, adapted from the novel of the same title by Tom Keene and Brian Haynes. Additional written material by Robert Smith. The producer was Colin Rogers and the director was Michael Custance. Script Editor for the series was Roger Gregory. |
A
product of the emerging conspiracy theory-based works of fiction to
emerge in the early 1980s, Spyship was a six-part drama
series from BBC Pebble Mill adapted from the novel of the same
name by Tom Keene and Brian Haynes, two former Thames
Television journalists who used a real-life event upon which to
base their story.
Taking a period of extended leave, he sets about conducting his investigations. His contacts lead him to believe that a local "businessman", Rupert Delaney (Murray Hayne), is responsible for his father's death and, later, when he receives a message from the man himself claiming responsibility, he rushes to the man's apartment to confront him. However, upon arrival he finds that Delaney has been murdered. In pursuit of the truth, he seeks out Delaney's mistress, Cathy White (June Barry), from whom he later receives a mysterious telephone call intimating that she knows why Bob Kerry was murdered. He is told that Mel Harris murdered his father, and that his death was linked to the call-girl organisation run by Delaney in London's Soho district. While the concept of spies aboard a seemingly innocent shipping trawler proved diverting enough, the production itself was nothing more than a hackneyed attempt to establish a Le Carre-esque plot which never quite cut the mustard. Even the presence of the likes to Tom Wilkinson, Thorley Waters, George Baker and Malcolm Tierney could not fail to lift this programme above the mediocre, and the only positive in its favour was a pleasing musical accompaniment by Richard Harvey (who's talents, though wasted here, would find better favour particularly with Alan Bleasdale's G.B.H). The programme was not commercially exploited, a wise move given the undemanding and readily forgettable nature of the series. Text © Matthew Lee, 2004. |