Triangle (1981 TV series)
| Triangle | |
|---|---|
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Main title caption for the series
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| Genre | Soap opera |
| Created by | Bill Sellars |
| Directed by | Marc Miller John Bird Andrew Morgan Darrol Blake Terence Dudley |
| Starring |
Kate O'Mara Larry Lamb Michael Craig Paul Jerricho |
| Opening theme | Johnny Pearson |
| Composer(s) | Johnny Pearson |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 78 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Bill Sellars |
| Location(s) | MS Tor Scandinavia |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Original release | 5 January 1981 – 6 July 1983 |
Triangle is a BBC Television soap opera broadcast in the early 1980s, set aboard a North Sea ferry which sailed from Felixstowe to Gothenburg and Gothenburg to Amsterdam. A third imaginary leg existed between Amsterdam and Felixstowe to justify the programme title, but this was not operated by the ferry company. The show ran for three series before being cancelled, but is still generally remembered as "some of the most mockable British television ever produced". The scripts involved clichéd relationships and stilted dialogue, making the show the butt of several jokes - particularly on Terry Wogan's morning Radio 2 programme - which caused some embarrassment to the BBC.
In 1992, the BBC screened TV Hell, an evening of programming devoted to the worst television had to offer, and the first episode of Triangle was broadcast as part of the line-up.
The ferry used in the first series was the Tor Line's MS Tor Scandinavia. In the second and third series this was replaced by the DFDS vessel Dana Anglia (DFDS having acquired Tor Line by this time) probably because she had a less intensive schedule and the longer time she spent in port made on-board filming easier.
Interviewed for an earlier TV Hell segment in 1992, the show's producer, Bill Sellars, spoke of several problems with the show's production.
Using a ferry as the setting for a television series had originally looked like a promising idea. The regular cast, playing the crew, could be joined by a constantly changing guest cast playing the passengers as the ship sailed to interesting European locations (a format used in the American series The Love Boat). Advances in portable video cameras and recording equipment meant that the show could be videotaped on board a real ferry with more realism than using studio sets and more cheaply than using 16mm film which was normal for location television drama at the time.
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