''Sailor'' was a major BBC television documentary series, first shown in 1976, about life on board the fourth HMS ''Ark Royal'', a British aircraft carrier. It followed the ship on a five-and-a-half-month deployment to North America in 1976. The series was filmed after the completion of a major refit and coincided with the 21st anniversary of her commissioning. It is particularly noteworthy for its depiction of fixed-wing aircraft operation in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

before its demise in 1978, with the

paying off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...

and scrapping of ''Ark Royal''. It shows the

Phantom Phantom may refer to: * Spirit (animating force), the vital principle or animating force within all living things ** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living Aircraft * Boeing Phantom Ray, a stealthy unm ...

Buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 until about 168 ...

, Gannet, Sea King and Wessex air group from

809 Naval Air Squadron 809 Naval Air Squadron (809 NAS) is a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm of the United Kingdom. It was first formed in 1941 and flew in the Soviet Union, the Mediterranean and the Far East during the Second World War. After active service during the Su ...

, 824 Naval Air Squadron, 849 Naval Air Squadron and 892 Naval Air Squadron.

Series

Episodes

Appearances

Captain Wilfred Graham, who later became Flag Officer, Portsmouth (FOP) (now obsolete), is the Ark Royal's commanding officer during its deployment. Commander David Cowling, who features heavily in the series, was the executive officer. Other members of the ship's crew to feature quite prominently were a

Leading Hand Leading seaman is a junior non-commissioned rank or rate in navies, particularly those of the Commonwealth. When it is used by NATO nations, leading seaman has the rank code of OR-4. It is often equivalent to the army and air force rank of co ...

named Leading Airman (Aircraft Handler) Sandy Powell (who was shown getting into trouble for not displaying the required level of responsibility), Fleet

Master-at-Arms A Master-at-Arms (US: MA; UK & some Commonwealth: MAA) may be a naval rating, responsible for law enforcement, regulating duties, security, anti-terrorism/force protection (AT/FP) for/of a country's navy; an army officer responsible for physical ...

Tom Wilkinson and the Ship's Padre.

Aftermath

The series won Best Factual Series at the 1977 British Academy Awards, while episode 3 won Best Factual Programme and was repeated. The whole series was then repeated from 17 June to 19 August 1978, and again from 11 January to 21 March 1984. This second repeat was the conclusion to BBC Two's 'Fly on the Wall' season, and as with '' The Family'', a follow-up programme was transmitted, in this case entitled ''Sailor: 8 Years On''. Shown on 28 March, it featured updates on the lives of the crew members and also showed ''Ark Royal'' part-way through scrapping at

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gd, Machair an Sgithich) is a vi ...

near Stranraer, Scotland.

Soundtrack

The theme song for the original broadcast is the 1975 number one hit " Sailing" by Rod Stewart, which remains Stewart's biggest-selling single in the UK, with sales of over a million copies. However, the DVD release uses a different version due to copyright issues. Likewise " Shine On You Crazy Diamond" by Pink Floyd was used in the original TV version during sequences showing a live fire exercise featuring

and

s at the Vieques weapons ranges in Puerto Rico. The DVD substitutes the Pink Floyd track for a smooth jazz composition.

References