Triangle

1 9 8 1 – 1 9 8 3 (UK)
79 x 25 minute episodes

El Cheapo wannabe glamorous soap set on a passenger ferry on a triangular route between Felixstowe, Gothenburg and Amsterdam.

At the time the series was hailed as a breakthrough in drama production because new lightweight cameras allowed all filming to be done on location on the ferry Tor Scandinavia.

Episodes pursued the business and sexual affairs of the crew as they sailed the North Sea.

The fundamental flaw? The North Sea is a grey, freezing dreary wasteland, and amongst the roughest seas in the world.

As a result, the actors constantly had the green pallor of sea-sickness, while the light balance inside the cabins was so uneven that the porthole curtains had to be kept permanently closed. End result = gloomy claustrophobia.

The most-remembered scene introduced sexy ship’s purser Katherine Laker (Kate O’Mara) sunbathing topless on the foredeck in the opening episode, visibly suffering from the effects of 40mph wind and light drizzle. It got no better.

Kate left after the first season and they struggled on for another year with the mother from Bless This House (Diana Coupland) as a kind of replacement for O’Mara.

The series sank out of the schedules at the end of the third season.

Purser Katherine Laker
Kate O’Mara
Captain John Anderson
Michael Craig
Matt Taylor
Larry Lamb
Wally James
Nigel Stock
Charles Woodhouse
Paul Jericho
David West
George Baker
Sarah Hallam
Penelope Horner