La línea Onedin

Wonderful drama, great actors Peter Gilmore, Anne Stalleybrass, and marvellous soundtrack, it's true they don't make them like this anymore. This is when British tv was great.

Grand music, real drama, tall ships and Jessica Benton, how can you go wrong?

One way is to cram all the episodes together so that each DVD forms some kind of four hour movie version of 'The Onedin Line'. This means that the writing talent that went into giving us some dramatic flow in an hour show is completely crapped on. At odd points during your viewing, provided you've got four hours spare to do that, you'll suddenly get a bit of the Adagio from 'Spartacus' dropped on you like a piece of musical jetsam. And with only your memory to guide you as to where each episode ends, you end up with a very up and down experience and not what TV drama is all about.

I for one would've been keen to see the names of the actors in each episode, too, as I'm sure they would be keen for me to know who they were. Alas, even that is lost to us in some harebrained attempt to turn this magnificent production into something even David Lean could find a trifle lengthy and vicissitudes.

We can only hope the BBC doesn't try this again with the second series.

A BBC serie. And the another definition becomes bizarre. Because it is the serie of many youths. Defined by costumes, atmosphere, the feeling of salted air, more than reasonable performances. And by a sort of flavour. Enigmatic, powerful, seductive, delicate, bitter. A serie about a man, his love and his ambition. And, sure, about the sea and the spirit of a period. All - impecable. And preserving, after decades, the fresh air of pure adventure.

I watched this series as a youngster and loved them all, glued to the, black and white TV and later, wow, in color (don't be mistaken all is in color, it just took long for we had a color TV). Now having bought all the series as soon as they came out I watched them all again. And, again. They are just wonderful stories, all 8 seasons long. Characters develop, are somewhat predictable, but highly entertaining. It was all made with low budgets and of course that shows. You will catch inaccuracies like for instance way to big master cabins on small ships, ships that are pictured trying to make you believe the 2nd ship is different but look carefully, it's not, it's the same ship, storms, well, storms are mere light breezes, and so on. Mostly studio indoors acting. But all of that does not matter really. I depicts a life from an era most people can't imagine how life was. Rich got richer, poor stayed poor. Nice costumes, entertaining events. So very British, so very BBC, so very 70's made. But all over a wonderful tribute to life at sea, life of those staying behind, struggling ship owners, cheating ship owners. A period drama like no other. Look at it, it lasted all of 8 seasons and it really ends in season 8, a real end, not just a series that was stopped making without an end. I would highly recommend it, but you have to like period drama's, not mind the inaccuracies and low budgets, and if you don't mind all of that you will be entertained.

I just discovered The Onedin Line,I ordered both DVD sets.I was totally hooked through each episode.The casting was perfect,and the acting was great.When I got to last episode I wanted to see more.I was delighted to see it ran for eight season.I was then very let down to find out the rest of the show is not available in the United States.I can only hope the rest of the series will be available in the future.I would definitely purchase the complete series if it were released.I would have rated this series a 10 if the picture quality was improved.The picture quality isn't too bad considering it was made in the early 70's.Anyone who loves British TV,history,and sea/ship dramas will not want to miss this.