The Buccaneers was a 1956 Sapphire Films television drama series for ITC Entertainment, broadcast by CBS in the US and shown on ATV and regional ITV companies as they came on air during the infancy of ITV in the UK.Starring Robert Shaw as Dan Tempest, the series, aimed at children, followed the adventures of Tempest and his crew of former pirates as they made their way across the seven seas in Sultana.

 

This series was one of several swashbuckling adventure series produced during this period by or for Lew Grade's ITC.The series ran for 39 half-hour black-and-white episodes and was produced by Hannah Weinstein and Sidney Cole for Sapphire Films Limited. The episodes were made at Nettlefold Studios at Walton-on-Thames using two studios with seven or eight standing sets.

 

A real schooner was based at Falmouth, Cornwall and a faithful reproduction of part of it in a studio corner. Rupert Evans, stunt artist, former army teacher of physical training taught Robert Shaw fencing. The series was set in the Port of Nassau in New Providence in 1722.

 

Sources report that Robert Shaw was unavailable for the first few episodes, but nevertheless shooting went ahead without him. In the majority of episodes, he is listed as "With" rather than "Starring" in the title sequence, for reasons that are open to speculation.

 

While The Buccaneers did display some stirring, full-blooded moments in its under-the-skull-and-crossbones saga, the buffoonish behaviour of its would-be cutthroat types often tended to test viewers’ patience.
 

The series was hailed as “one of the most exciting romantic discoveries of the year”. With its ‘a-roving’ theme song, The Buccaneers was reputedly television’s first pirate series and was also unusual in that its lead character did not appear until the third episode – the first two being devoted to setting the scene. 
 

The first three episodes of the series were made at Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames before production moved to eight permanent sets at Twickenham Studios for episode four onward.

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The sea sequences were filmed off Falmouth by a second unit and the ship featured was a show-business veteran, having already played the part of the Hispaniola in Disney’s Treasure Island (1950) and the Pequod in John Huston’s Moby Dick (1956).

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The small budget meant members of the supporting cast often appeared as two different characters in the same episode.