Cyril Abraham

Cyril Stanley Abraham (22 September 1915–30 July 1979), was an English screenwriter best known for creating the popular BBC series The Onedin Line (1971-1980), writing the scripts for 22 episodes in addition to five novels based on the series.

Born in Liverpool in England, the son of John Abrahams, an oil mill labourer, and Agnes (née Davies), a widow, who married in 1918, as a boy Abraham attended the Liverpool Collegiate School and as a youth on the training ship HMS Conway before going to sea as an apprentice with the Liverpool shipping line Lambert and Holt. He had a period as a Bevin Boy down Bold Colliery before serving as a Marconi wireless operator in the Merchant Navy during World War II. After the war, having literary aspirations but not knowing how to pursue them, he became a bus driver with Liverpool City Transport; here he worked with Harold Hargreaves Harrison, the father of George Harrison.

His first marriage in 1945 to Evelyn M Howarth was later dissolved. While still driving buses in Liverpool he met local school teacher Joan Thomas; she encouraged him to start writing by renting a typewriter for him when he could not afford to do so for himself. She hired him the cheapest available, a pink model as these were not suitable for offices because of their bright colour. The couple married in Liverpool in 1964. Initially his short stories and articles were published in Australian magazines before he made the break into writing for television.

Abraham's writing for television included Coronation Street (1960), The Verdict is Yours (1962), Suspense (1963), The Villains (1964), No Hiding Place (1960-1964), Catch Hand (1964), Londoners (1965), King of the River (1966), Z-Cars (1967), The Expert (1968), The First Lady (1969), Dixon of Dock Green (1969), Counterstrike (1969), Paul Temple (1969-1970), Owen, M.D. (1971-1972), and The Onedin Line (1971-1980).

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