Operation Patch

1 9 7 6 (UK)
7 x 30 minute episodes

England, 1805. The war with France had dragged on for eight years. The French fleet, imprisoned in port by the powerful British navy (under Lord Horatio Nelson), refused to come out and fight a decisive battle, fearing a British victory.

At home, inspired by the French Revolution, the craftsmen and tradesmen of England had banded together into societies dedicated to political reform and to curbing the power of the small privileged ruling class.

These societies were banned by government decree and forced underground, Their members were labelled as Jacobin revolutionaries.

On the South Coast, youngsters Tom Moyes (Nigel Greaves) and Betsy Cosserat (Lynsey Baxter) discover a young deserter boy on the run from the feared Navy press gangs. Slowly but surely this leads them into a plot to assassinate Admiral Nelson (Tony Calvin) before the HMS Victory can set sail – “Operation Patch” (referring to the famous eyepatch of the intended victim).

The children must learn who the spies are and who the counter-spies are in time to stop the killing.

Betsy’s father, George Cosserat (Michael Robbins of On The Buses fame) is a Master at Arms on the Victory and Tom’s father, Dick Moyes (Barry Lowe), a liberal Jacobin who is framed for possessing seditious pamphlets.

Operation Patch aired on Sundays in June and July 1976.

Tom Moyes
Nigel Greaves
Betsy Cosserat
Lynsey Baxter
Dick Moyes
Barry Lowe
George Cosserat
Michael Robbins
Beulah Cosserat
Virginia Balfour
Ralph Page
Anthony Pedley
Merry 
Diane Mercer
Matthew Snell
Aubrey Morris
Mr Scott
Donald Pickering
Lord Horatio Nelson
Tony Calvin

Episodes

The Deserter | The Informers | The Prisoner | The Rebel | The Spies | The Assassin | The Admiral